Over the course of many months, I walked the roads and piazzas of the city of Rome in my search for examples of epigraphy. Over 900 photographs of examples were taken and their exact locations were geotagged. 320 of those were selected for inclusion in this project. Each example was selected because it was meaningful and culturally significant, then they were carefully drawn in the manner of a traditional epigrapher.

My goal was to explore the contemporary layer of communication that rests upon the city's surface and give voice to the everyday Romans and myriad visitors who have left their mark upon the city—to memorialize the mundane and give voice to individuals who are largely ignored in the historical record. I aim to act as a sort of cultural preservationist documenting the shift from ancient Roman typography engraved upon the facades of imperial structures, to the centuries-old tradition of craftsman designers creating typefaces and signage for shopkeepers in the 19th and 20th centuries, to our present landscape of anarchic graffiti and tagging that dominates the epigraphic landscape.

“The Romans, who went down in history for covering Italy and Europe with roads, also enjoyed covering everything they came across in writing.”
Giuliano Tedesco, 2001

“...the soil of Rome being stocked to a great depth with words, bits of architecture and sculpted limbs, tombstones and all the other compost of civilized time...”
Eleanor Clark, Rome and a Villa, 1950

“When graffiti are found in large numbers in one and the same place they gain the importance of a historical document.”
Lanciani, 1891