Since the second half of the last century, the street has seen the birth of a new language: graffiti. This new cultural expression that emerged from marginalisation has been one of the resources chosen by young people to express their social, cultural, political and artistic concerns. This publication, coordinated by José Manuel Valenzuela Arce, is the first serious study of graffiti and urban calligraphy in the city of Tijuana (Mexico), questioning the concepts used until now in the interpretation of a social, economic, cultural and artistic context in constant tension, in a city located on the northern border of Mexico with the United States.

The work focuses on the shaping of national identities and the identity repertoires of the border population, migratory displacements, artistic manifestations, imaginaries and stereotypes about the border and border people, with an emphasis on the processes that occur south of the dividing line. The images of the graffiti are shown in context and arranged in a sequence organised in the form of a photobook, and the content of the publication is enriched by interviews with prominent actors in the graffiti scene in the Mexican city.