When my daughter asked me ‘what’s your favourite thing that you own?’ I didn’t expect my response to be ‘my wetsuit’, but it is.

This summer I’ve begun learning to surf. A whim purchase of a body-board led to me investing in a decent wetsuit and OH my word it changed my life – I LOVE being in the sea! Being in the water, with the vast sky above, is truly humbling – I can feel how immense the world is, and how tiny and insignificant I am. Being slapped in the face by the cold waves, thrown about and whipped by the wind I feel alive. This summer I feel like I’ve found myself again.

The HUGE, beautiful sunsets I’ve seen above the water have taken my breath away – the colours are magical – hard to believe that the bright pinks and reds are natural, not from a spray-can.

The ocean is such a powerful force and being in the waves we’re just tickling the edge of its majesty. Awareness of the tides and their link to the moon bring us closer to the natural cycle of the world and the other animals who feel and respect this power. This weekend a seal came within metres of us in the water – just to say hello.

I’ll be showing my piece ‘Unity – the ebb and flow of the tide’ at the Made In Roath Open Exhibition, Sunday 9^th October (preview 2-4pm) then Tues 11^th – Sunday 16^th 11am-4pm at 28 The Parade, CF24 3AB.

 

 

When you’re in the minority, you get judged harder because you stand out, you also get easy props from a crowd, and it skews things. The first time I ever DJ’d in a club, I was terrible, but I had all these girls shaking my hand and going wild – it freaked me out! I threw down at De La Soul in Newport – I did such a basic set and got a massive cheer – it feels false and takes away some of the drive and ambition to be better, to train harder. It also doesn’t help as it can cause resentment from the bboys.

Painting is different to breaking and MCing, because you’re not putting your physical self out there (unless you’re in hotpants, but that’s a-WHOLE-nother topic…). Painting is a social thing for me – I vibe off other people – we don’t need a crowd, we just create. Friendships are formed with people who you trust and who you can let loose and be yourself with. I’ve found these friendships with both guys and girls in hip-hop, but I’ve kept the links over time with more girls – because I am one.

A lot of people say we shouldn’t separate male and female for events, making female only events, as it’s excluding people. In a way I do agree, but I have seen the benefit of events such as Femme Fierce, and the B-Girl competitions I’ve been to, in giving confidence to females to represent, and making links with other women who are into hip-hop. I’ve never run a ‘women only’ hip-hop event. I have however run events that try and address the huge imbalance that I see in our culture, where pretty much all the role models are guys.

We need to support one another and encourage girls to get involved in hip-hop, because we need more strong female role models. Male and female are nothing without the other, and a party’s much more fun when there’s a good mix of boys and girls… particularly if they’re all repping HARD!

 

 

‘Arthur’s Tree’ was created with 26 pupils from Tongwynlais Primary school. We had a fun morning spraying the grass and using sponges and brushes to create butterflies and flowers.

The project was a follow on from the work I did with RSPB on the ‘Grow Wild Cardiff’ campaign last year. The mural, created in time for visitors to the Fforest Farm open day to enjoy was created with the aim of engaging local residents in events taking place at the conservation centre. Visitors at the open day were able to contribute artwork to logs which will be used as seating around the area, as well as doing activities with RSPB and the Rangers team including bug hunting and creating cute little ‘natures palettes’.

This project was supported by the Cardiff Parks Ranger Service and the Tongwynlais Our Neighbourhood group, who operate a Time Credits scheme in my lovely village. It was really lovely to link the school up with the Fforest Farm Conservation Centre which has some beautiful places to explore. What was really special about the project is that I did a workshop in the school’s foundation phase about three years ago, with the same pupils, so it was a really nice follow on to do this mural with them.

Today I had a meeting with Cardiff Council. Specifically, the people who are in charge of what the city of Cardiff looks like. It was sincerely refreshing to put across my views on how the corporate world that we are immersed in definitely does not sit well with what hip-hop culture is about. We discussed learning to paint on the street and the ethos of respect and teaching one another. We also talked about commissioned pieces and the factors of money and time in creating art, and how the only way to improve is to be given the opportunity to do so, or to take that opportunity wherever you may find it. I made it very clear that without legal spots, there is no opportunity to engage with and support one another legally. The boardwalk is ideal for this as it’s central.

They aren’t happy about the tags on the posts along the boardwalk, so are going to paint over them. They’ll also put up signs so it’s more obvious how to get permission to paint there (they may stay longer than my home-made efforts…) They’re also, and this is the good news, going to sort out some money for paint for some future jams, and there was talk about commissioning something the castle end of the boardwalk, as this is the most visible part. This is where the conversation was most awkward, as I fully disagree that this commission should be ‘street art’.

I’m really hopeful that this will be the beginning of the inclusion of real hip-hop when funding for arts and culture is dished out by Cardiff Council. They are organising an arts event in October, and were keen to include something as part of that – Swn festival is on at the same time so maybe it could link in. Watch this space…

Over two years ago, more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted from their school in Chibok, Nigeria. They are still missing. I put up the 179 names I could find online, in their memory. More information about the kidnapping here.

I felt emotionally drained after painting this. I feel so helpless.