First Carved Wall (Visual Street Performance 2007)

Vhils' first carved wall, cut for the Visual Street Performance 2007 group exhibition at Fábrica do Braço de Prata, Lisbon, in November 2007 — the first public presentation of the carving technique. After reversing his stencil process on layers of advertising posters and testing tools on the walls of an abandoned factory, he carved this portrait through white plaster into the brick and block masonry beneath — 'the first accomplished wall piece with this technique', in his words. His early website titled it 'Palimpsest'. The wall no longer exists; the official November 2007 photograph documents it.