Over the past 40 years, graffiti has taken over trains, rooftops, mailboxes, phone booths and, most significantly according to the authors of Gates of Graffiti, doorways. Gates of Graffiti’s preface—one of the few text pages in the book—introduces “the door as a frame for graffiti” and the doorway as a hiding place for the writer while he writes.

Displaying pictures taken from America and Europe, Gates of Graffiti shows styles from many major cities, but focuses a bit too much on Stockholm, which weakens the versatility of the book. Still, Gates… hits doorways, garage doors and storefront gates, showing primarily tags, both individually and layered atop one another, which allows the reader to judge differences between local scenes. Seeking to provide a view on how graffiti writers communicate, Gates of Graffiti also includes a few short editorial pieces written by graffiti artists in the back of the book. Although these are primarily personal accounts of writing, they do provide insight into the life of illegal writers and provide context for the pictures throughout the book.

Gates of Graffiti is not a definitive text outlining doorway graffiti, but if you’re looking for a well designed, well photographed addition to your collection, definitely check it out.