The concept of aliases in street art and graffiti culture represents far more than simple pseudonyms – these chosen identities become the artist’s entire public persona and creative brand. Street artists adopt aliases for multiple reasons: legal protection from prosecution for illegal works, artistic freedom to experiment without personal reputation constraints, and the creation of mythical personas that enhance their cultural impact. Famous aliases like Banksy, Invader, and JR have become household names while their creators remain anonymous, demonstrating the power of carefully crafted artistic identities. The alias becomes inseparable from the artwork itself, with some artists maintaining multiple aliases for different styles or projects. This practice has roots in graffiti’s underground origins, where writers needed protection from law enforcement while building reputations within the community through their chosen names and distinctive visual signatures.
Berlin Street Art Documentary: Berlin speaks for itself.
Eastcross Projects is going to release their street art documentary film Berlin spricht für sich selbst (Berlin speaks for itself) in near future. Originally announced for early August, the film documents various street artists like Mein lieber Prost, Think, Tona and Alias at work in Berlin. Including graffiti and tagging actions, group-pasting and sticker runs as well as run aways and police controls, the latest trailer (which is online for a few weeks now) promises deep and interesting insight into the loosely linked core group of creatives doing street art in Germany’s capital. Although I haven’t heard anything new about the film after the trailer, I’m nevertheless pretty sure there will be a release in near future - I’ll definitely keep you posted! ...