Graffiti artists come from all kinds of backgrounds: marginalized, middle class and wealthy He has traveled halfway around the world to spray trains and has only recently returned home after spending three months in and out of jail in New York for spraypainting a number of wagons in the city.

The 37-year-old has two children and works as a painter during the day. He is one of the most respected graffiti artists in the country with 25 years of experience behind him. The person talking goes by the name of Jabato. “There are cameras everywhere, it’s deep inside and swarming with guards.” The old carriage is located inside a facility at the rail junction belonging to Barcelona Metropolitan Transport (TMB), the main public transport operator in Catalonia. “It’s a top model train,” says one as he unravels the rope and ties a number of knots in it. They are graffiti artists – or “writers” as they call themselves – and their goal tonight is to risk their lives painting an old Metro carriage that was built in 1926 and taken out of circulation 30 years ago.

The smoke from their cigarettes mixes with the fog from the cold air as they talk about gaps to slip through, radial saws and the police above the hum of the distant highway traffic. They are wearing sweat pants, dark clothes and trekking boots. In a parking lot near the Torras I Bages Metro station, five men between the ages of 20 and 40 take a crowbar and a 20-meter-long rope from the boot of their BMW. It is Friday night in the suburbs of Barcelona.

Fman 2h graffiti