• Q: What would you say is the importance of graffiti and street art, particularly for marginalised communities? A: I am...
    Q: What would you say is the importance of graffiti and  street art, particularly for marginalised communities?
     
    A: I am double minded about the graffiti. When I started using graffiti, it was more graffiti tagging, which is very much part of hip-hop culture. At the time it was culture that you grew up in, before it became more art based. It was the kind of culture that let everybody know you were in a certain place at a certain time. So people put their names in the weirdest of places. Graffiti has always been a way of saying ‘look I am here’, ‘count me in’, ‘I am one of many’. From that perspective it is positive. Young people need a platform to express themselves.
     
    There is the idea that some people have about beautifying the community, but initially graffiti had nothing to do with the community. It was a lot of communicating between groups within the culture. So when you see the lettering, it is so complex and you have to be in on it to know what it is  saying.  It is like abstract code, if you show somebody that is not in the know, chances are that they are not going to like it.
  • Q: You grew up in Mitchells Plain where you began using graffiti art. In what way would you say that your childhood environment has influenced your subject matter?
     
    A: A big part of graffiti was that everyone was writing on everything - on desks, on toilet doors, on walls, whenever they had the opportunity to put something on a surface. People thought it was ugly but to me it was just another way of communicating. So Growing up, graffiti crept into my work in the form of doodling. It was just another way of communicating.  
     
    Q: You link memory and identity as your themes, particularly the way in which memory forms ideas about one's character. Can you please elaborate on that?
     
    A: There’s layers to the whole idea of memory. They affect the way we perceive the world. If our memories were removed, who would we be? You would be no one. I wonder why we remember certain things, but forget others. We choose to change narratives as we go through experiences. 
     
    Q: Some of your portraits incorporate texts. What is the significance of the texts in your work?
     
    A: The writing started when I started portraits. It has to do with the idea of me liking poetry. We write on each other - like when we bump into each other, we leave marks on one another. Like when meeting people, you either leave a big impression or you don’t.
  • Q: You layer mixed media to create collage portraits. Can you please explain your artistic practice? A: I do not...
    Q: You layer mixed media to create collage portraits. Can you please explain your artistic practice?

    A: I do not know how my work evolved over time. I used to think that I had no formula, no real method of working. It was all very haphazard. I would approach every painting differently. I go with my gut and many times I have to feel my way. So now there is more method to the madness, not just madness. 


    There was a time when I was very conceptual when approaching my work. But I found that the approach was not me. There are stumbling blocks if I approach it that way. If there is a concept I want to really get across, I will think about it and visualise it beforehand. When I start working it becomes instinctual. I realised you cannot force an idea, because then it becomes a dead idea. For me it needs to be alive. I was having this conversation with my daughter about working to a point where the art becomes alive. 

     
  • Q: You work in portraiture.  Where will your art lead you next?

    A:     I dodged portraits for the longest time, I thought they were too simple and so many portraits have been done before. Only after doing a portrait for someone, did I begin to love it. I have started doing sculptures again. So I am starting to branch out of my painting moon toward narrative type stuff. But I am keeping that until I am ready to put it out for the public.