In case you were wondering . . .

In June of 2008 I traveled to Mexico City for an assignment and as usual I stayed at the Hotel Habita. When I got out of the taxi I could not believe my eyes: the whole outside glass front of the building was covered in Graffiti. Upon entering I was informed that this was an art intervention by Mexican Artist Tania Candiani and during my week long stay I photographed the work intensively. I was fortunate to be introduced to the artist and also took portraits of her on the site. Tania is currently working on a book about the intervention to be published later this year, here some of her thoughts about the project:

Habita Intervenido. Like a metaphor of appropriation, a group of taggers were the temporal inhabitants of this exclusive hotel in Mexico City. During the process we discussed concepts and definitions about identity, personal history and city barriers. This project aims to bring attention to the potential beauty of graffiti and to create a discussion about how certain forms of visual expression are prioritized over others. From the inside, the hotel guests had a layer of street in their rooms. It lasted 4 months.