To prepare a surface for painting by covering it with primer, or an undercoatIt took two hours to complete spraying the stencils with their striking black outline. I ran up and down the ladders, working methodically to fill the gaps before moving to the next level. Twenty-three empty spray cans littered the boards, spread around like the spent cartridges of bullets. A chemical haze hung around within the tarpaulin, drifting beneath the watchful glare of the floodlights. I sat on the boards in front of the detailed outline of a man’s head and paused to catch my breath. The heady scent of toluene seeped beneath the mask and I frowned. Each filter had an eight-hour lifespan in an environment such as the one created within the tarpaulins. I used my fingers to search around the edges of the mas
