I have always been drawn instinctively to Hiphop. From my early days of buying records before I even had a record player, cartwheeling into a ‘resting’ bboy cypher before I’d ever seen a bboy, scribbling my frustrations in notebooks and onto walls. When I moved away from my family home in the countryside of mid-wales, […]
When I started painting I didn’t take photos. I did it for fun, to get a buzz, to spend time with friends. I’ve just done my first piece which was planned around taking a photo of it. I’ve wanted to try this effect for a while but put it off – you gotta try things […]
For many of the people I know who write graffiti, it’s a life-line. When I see somebody is painting I know they’re okay. Sometimes if a writer is painting prolifically, I have an inkling that maybe they are not okay. I’m hoping to find out more about ‘art on prescription’, trying to be open minded […]
I was asked to paint a Cuban themed mural including portraits of both Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. I already had some knowledge about Guevara, from reading and watching the film of the Motorcycle diaries, which I loved. The diaries of his travels through South America in 1952 as a 23 year-old medical student captured […]
Welsh graffiti writers have been getting up since the early 80’s, when films like Wildstyle and Style Wars were finding their way into the UK’s video players. Henry Chalfant’s Subway Art and Spraycan Art, as well as original photographs of New York trains and Homemade zines provided inspiration for young Welsh artists. Trefforest Industrial Estate, Webbs […]
This was the question put as a conversation starter for the first of a series of ‘What’s up with Hip Hop’ discussions as part of the Festival Of Voice. As with anything in Cardiff Hip Hop, there was apparently a ‘hoo-haa’ in advance of the event, because either people mis-read the original promo, or they […]
I’m not sure if I’ve lived a sheltered life, or if my head is too full of other things, but I somehow missed the hype around ‘Hamilton’ – a majorly successful piece of Hip Hop Theatre. Following our installation piece ‘Landmarks’, for Made in Roath Festival, Rufus Mufasa kept drumming into my head ‘you’re a […]
Hip-hop is all about community. Supporting each other, working together, pushing each other’s boundaries and growing together. It’s also about competition – against each other, against another crew, against the world. You have to be extremely humble, honest and brave to set yourself up to battle, to put yourself out there and potentially fail so […]
As we approached the ‘Palm Mar’ archway in our taxi from the Airport, I was struck by how separate the town was from the next built up area. It feels isolated and unfinished. I convinced a security guard for one of the incomplete apartment buildings on the outskirts of Palm Mar to let me look […]
When I first moved to Cardiff in 2005, I was super excited to discover Cathays and Central Youth and Community Centre. I got involved in the music youth club, quickly progressing to work in the open access club as well as the inclusive youth provision and a project for young people not attending school. This […]
