2001. After a decade of railway graffiti, Opak and the SDK crew step away from painting trains in France as legal pressure mounts. Twelve years later, the SNCF accelerates the scrapping of some of the country’s most iconic trains and officially announces the end of the legendary petits gris. That moment becomes the spark: Opak sets out on a mission to paint these emblematic trains one last time.
Told as a logbook, the first volume of Painted Graves retraces this journey and delves into its roots in the 1990s. Through an extensive collection of archival photographs, Olivier Scuro brings together the works of Opak, Inxs, Honet, Pum, Fancie, Riot, Sime, Milk, Poes, Chill, Acid79, Skeme—and many more. A blend of urbex, adrenaline, nostalgia and discovery… and above all: graffiti.
Olivier Scuro—better known as Opak—has been painting trains since 1990. Thirty-five years on, he recounts his journey through words and images, creating unconventional photo-novels. In 2025, Painted Graves lays the cornerstone of this ambitious body of work.
Sabotage Editions: After Dirty Handz, Sao Paulo Signature, and the influential run of Xplicit Grafx magazine (1992–2009), Sabotage Editions returns in 2025. The world of train graffiti is full of closely guarded secrets, and the “tales from the rails” published by Sabotage Editions delve deep into these hidden realms. Painted Graves launches the series with untold stories from the golden age of train graffiti—with much more to follow.
