Fully-Furnished Rooms Installed in the Cramped Underground Manholes of Milan

If you're traipsing around the streets of Milan, you might come across Biancoshock‘s recent series of installations called Borderlife. The artist has created three cramped, compelling underground spaces–also known as manholes–that are adorned in the same way that someone would decorate their home. Small squares and rectangles dug into the ground are wallpapered, tiled, and affixed with pictures, hats, and towels on the walls of these claustrophobic quarters.

The striking artworks are social commentary on people who are forced to live in extreme conditions–including some that inhabit manholes. “An example of inspiration is Bucharest,” Biancoshock explains, “where more than 600 people live underground, in the sewers.” This harrowing series is intended to bring light to this issue, because knowing it exists is the first step in fixing it. “If some problems cannot be avoided,” Biancoshock says, “make them comfortable.”

Biancoshock: Website | Facebook | Instagram
via [This Isn't Happiness, StreetArtNews]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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