The Invasion of La Muralla Roja, Captured by Anthony Saroufim

Few residential projects in recent years have attracted as much attention as Ricardo Bofill‘s Muralla Roja. Completed in 1968, the Mediterranean design has benefited from trends of millennial culture, having served as a backdrop for several photographic essays and even music videos.

With worldwide notoriety, it isn’t surprising that residents of the famous pink estate have sought to bar access from the already fortified wall. This, however, was not enough to prevent the Lebanese photographer and architect Anthony Saroufim from venturing through the labyrinthine of corridors and staircases of the Bofill building.

Solely accompanied by his analog camera loaded with Kodak 400 Color Plus film, Saroufim invaded the wall:

“My heart raced as I jumped over the fence, unnoticed, with my camera in my hand. Sneaking into this labyrinth of staircases, I hid myself, looking around and firing quickly, almost instinctively, I felt like I was stealing moments.” – Anthony Saroufim

Photographic records carry traces of his course. Although the camera at hand does not offer the same compositional precision of a tripod, the photos, rich in texture, lack a sharpness that is strangely suited to the nature of the wall.