Between Gaúcho’s and Cats

This is the eponymously titled Depor Este zine which is a collaboration between two artists from Germany and Brazil. It’s a nicely produced little publication showcasing some funky styles. A few themes crop up such as ancient Egyptian motifs, cats, and high art juxtaposed with derelict graffiti covered walls. The photography throws out some cool scenes such as two gaúchos checking out graffiti or a cat perched on a piece beside an image of paw prints set in concrete.

The overarching thread that connects the two writers and their images is the internet. Modern graffiti magazines occasionally hark back to the days of cut & paste DIY zines with an internet era version of pictures found online and displayed as, what could be termed, ‘click & paste’. Depor Este has a similar internet aesthetic but here the internet isn’t just a resource for images but how the zine’s authors met and created the publication. They made contact online, through a mutual appreciation of the other’s work, and wanted to collaborate on a project. They hit on the idea of a zine and used InDesign to create the layout and edit it together.


When talking about graffiti Andrea Baldini has said that it is the photo that is the most important article and in this form the artwork remains long after the original’s been buffed. If it was to be used as an academic case study Depor Este would be an interesting example of this theory. The graffiti is viewed only after being exchanged online, from different continents, by two people who may never have physically met each other. Perhaps augmented reality is the future of graffiti but this zine is pure contemporary graffiti for now.

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