Painted Graves Vol. 1 hits like a forgotten night train crashing back into the culture. This hardcover book serves as a gripping time capsule filled with the screech of metal, tunnel dust, and pure writer energy. Olivier Scuro, aka Opak, opens his personal archive to reveal 200 photographs captured between 1995 and 2018, straight from the heart of the French train graffiti scene.
The narrative begins in 2001. After a decade of trackside adventures, Opak and the SDK crew were abruptly halted by the French justice system. But the fire never died. Twelve years later, when the SNCF announced the retirement of the mythical petits gris—trains that defined generations of writers—it acted as an electric shock. Opak set out to paint these steel legends one last time before they were scrapped and buried.
A Raw Visual Logbook
This volume reconstructs that comeback as a raw logbook, blending urbex moments, night missions, and deep nostalgia. The pages breathe the atmosphere of the '90s, featuring contributions from heavyweights such as: Inxs, Honet, Pum, Fancie, Riot, Sime, Milk, Poes, Chill, Acid79, Skeme, and more.
It is a secret door to a golden era, documented by a man who has been painting trains since 1990. Published by Sabotage Editions as the debut of their new "Tales from the Rails" collection, this is more than a retrospective—it is a living monument where words and images fuse into a unique piece of art.
Specifications:
Pages: 300
Format: Hardcover, 210 × 270 mm
Language: French & English
Photography: 200 rare images
Author: Olivier Scuro (Opak)
Publisher: Sabotage Editions
ISBN: 979-1-097946-30-2
Release Date: December 4, 2025
A must-have historical document for anyone dedicated to the raw, honest history of European rail graffiti.