Usually I think tagging is kinda stupid and egotistical, not the most creative form of expression, but this just makes me laugh. It’s an ad for the Coney Island hospital birthing center, and is translated to “We’re the one for birthing… visit the most modern birthing center in Brooklyn” (my Spanish isn’t actually that great, I’m using the English language version of the ad for reference). This photo was taken during a recent trip back home; it’s location is the Sheepshead Bay Road station of the B/Q train, which was basically my portal to the outside world during adolescence.

Like most people, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with my hometown over the years. Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn in the ’80s and ’90s nurtured me on scrunchy socks, hairspray, fast food (one particularly fond memory includes eating a bucket of popcorn chicken — then a recently-added menu option — at KFC on Nostrand Avenue one extremely humid August afternoon, and shortly thereafter puking my meal outside near the garbage can), litter, friends and family, but eventually it was time to move on. I wanna thank all the sexist, illiterate jerks in my neighborhood for providing sufficient reason to explore the world further, and also thank my friends for being fun, creative, and just ridiculous enough to keep me going.

I guess not all the illiterate jerks were that bad… some of them made cool graffiti.

Here is an awesome mural near the Gravesend/Neck Road train station, also photographed recently.

Hey, and if you think writing on ads is just plain vandalism, please consider Banksy’s take on the topic: “Brandalism: Any advertisement in public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It belongs to you. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.” Food for thought… not quite popcorn chicken, but close.

One of Mathew Curran’s stencils, located off Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, NC

Two weeks ago the Indy ran an article about tension between an elderly black couple in Raleigh, who have apparently allowed loud, disruptive and potentially criminal activities to occur on their property, and their mostly white neighbors, who have repeatedly complained to the authorities. Central to that story was the image of a stencil, spray-painted throughout the neighborhood, depicting a person with a wide-open mouth and a wiry patterned background. The elderly couple and their family believed the stencil to be a hate target, and the artist, Mathew Curran, was called in to the Raleigh police department for questioning. He said that the image was actually based on a picture of his brother laughing.

I spoke with Mathew this week to learn more about his artwork and the controversy over his recent stencil.

Q: How do you make your stencils?

A: I have different models, some are myself and my brothers. I distort the faces: first I shoot the photo (using a standard digital camera with a video fisheye lens taped to it), and then draw from the photo using a thick graffiti marker or shoe polish pens. I freestyle the lines; it really breaks up the face a lot. Sometimes it looks kind of scary because the lines are jagged.

Most of them are black and drippy. I’ve been working on ‘prettier’ images, but even they look distressed. I like to keep the drips, it’s the influence of street art. Keeping the drips is pretty important.

Q: How did you get involved in graffiti?

A: At the end of middle school I started skateboarding, and graffiti came out of that. In high school I did a lot of art. And in college [at UNC--Greensboro] I was exposed to graffiti through the people I lived with and the people in my classes.

Graffiti was always an element I worked with. Then I started doing stencils, which have a clean-cut, graphic design feel. I felt it should tie back into the graffiti style, so I started adding the drips and using graffiti markers.

I don’t do so much on the street anymore. I build canvases, travel around and do a lot of gallery shows. The one time something was put up on the street, it got into the paper and there was misinterpretation.

Q: I read that you were taken into the Raleigh police headquarters.

A: After the News & Observer article, I thought everything was clear. But then the Raleigh police called. They spoke with my family first. Then I was called in to the Threat Assessment Unit.

Q: To see if you were a threat to the family?

Yes. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was painted 13 times, and 13 people live in that house. There were nine on one sign, for Shaw University in Boylan Heights, and four on the other, a school crossing sign. (They’re all gone now.) There were nine children that lived in the house and four adults, and the family thought it symbolized one for each person.

This was two days before my art show.

Q: What was it like to have people think that about your stencil?

I never wanted anything negative to come out of my artwork. I hate that anyone would interpret it that way.

It didn’t have meaning. I like emotional expressions and let people read into it how they want. My artwork is about capturing movement; I did studies of line movement in college.

Q: What is the typical fine for getting caught doing graffiti?

Around $3000, and some community service, basically cleaning up your graffiti.

People have been moving towards showing their art in the galleries. A lot of my friends, we’re in our early 30s and mid-to-late 20s, and we don’t want to lose money anymore, we want to make money with our art. We want to do something positive for the community.

The city wants artists to paint buildings before they get torn down, and become an eyesore. There’s a building downtown that I just spoke with the city about recently. We want it to have a graphic feel, paint it with bright, fun colors that make you happy.

Q: Are there any artists who influence you?

Dave Kinsey, who is a street artist and also does figurative gallery work. Shepard Fairey, a lot of people think he’s a sellout but he’s done some amazing projects. Faile is an artistic collective in New York, they have a vintage graphic design style that’s very colorful, and they do some wheatpaste as well. I’m also inspired by a lot of the young artists that are out now.

Part of a mural by Parail Studios, Mathew’s company, located in front of the NC Museum of Art box office.

Happy (almost) Friday the 13th!

Some people think it’s bad luck, others consider it good. From a feminist perspective, this can be a powerful and positive day: 13 cycles of the moon in a year, related to women’s cycles; Friday is named for the Norse goddess of both love and war, Freya, and the French Vendredi is named after the Roman goddess of love, Venus. (I first learned this from Cooties zine in the mid-1990s. Kate, where are you?)

Regardless of whether you believe in good or bad luck, God, goddesses or nothing, I’d like to dedicate this day to Pele, the fiery volcanic spirit of Hawaiian mythology. I was inspired to make this collage upon visiting Hawai’i in 2004 and seeing the end of the road in Kalapana, where lava had flowed over the entire fishing village in 1990, destroying about 100 homes in two months and forcing all residents to evacuate.

I was also able to visit the current flow in the Kilauea crater, due to the generosity and patience of a local resident and hiker, and experienced first-hand the power of volcanic lava. The heat was so intense I could feel my arm hair and the rubber on my sneakers getting singed. We put an empty soda can in the flow and watched it explode!

Whether you believe fire is a spiritual, scientific or evolutionary element, the power to both destroy existing land and create new is amazing. It reminds me that good and bad can balance each other out in the end… even on Friday the 13th.

Update 6/21/08: a recent issue of Vogue Nippon (Japan) includes a fashion spread entitled “Angels,” in which female child models wear Fafi-inspired outfits. It’s adorable and visually appealing, the colors and props bringing Fafi’s alternative world to life. But my feminist sensibilities bristle somewhat at the sexualization, however slight,  of young girls.  While the child models wear clothing that provides enough modest coverage, it was an unusual decision to use children as models for very sexual women characters. Oh, well. You can check out some pictures here.

Recently I was able to visit Amsterdam, which is a beautiful, unique and really fun city. There are many canals and everyone rides bicycles, plus they have cookies called stroopwafel which are like two firm round waffle cookies glued together with a sweet syrup. Yum.

While exploring the city on foot, I was so happy to encounter this graffiti by Fafi, even though it was partially covered by many stickers and tags. Fafi is a French lady graffiti artist who paints sexy and mischievous-looking female characters on city streets throughout Europe and the world, creating beautiful, soft, feminine images onto hard, dirty urban walls. She has also developed non-human creatures for toy and action figure lines.

Partly what intrigues me about Fafi, and what sets her apart from many graffiti artists, is her accessibility in the consumer world. Last year she launched a bag collection with LeSportsac, this year she designed a makeup line with MAC. I also really like this video, basically a commercial for her 2006 limited-edition Adidas sneakers, in which a very pregnant Fafi describes her creative process.

I was driving down N. Alston Avenue in Durham last week on my way to the airport, when I got rear-ended by a kid. (It wasn’t totally his fault, I had stopped short, but don’t tell that to the insurance company.) I had the opportunity to experience unequal treatment from a police officer who was so nice to me, and treated this young black man like a criminal.

After a series of unfortunate events, I missed my flight and was able to drive back down N. Alston again towards home, when I stopped and saw this mural. It’s located on the side of Los Primos SuperMarket on the corner of N. Alston and Main Street. I went in and bought a Mexican soda, and got to say hi to some nice people walking down the street.

Thanks, kid, for making me stop and take the time. Thanks to my sturdy 1988 Volvo station wagon for keeping me safe. Thanks officer, for reminding me how unfair life can be. Thanks Los Primos SuperMarket, for having an awesome mural, carrying good soda and having friendly and helpful employees. Thanks to everyone on N. Alston Ave. who said hello to me even though it was probably weird to see a strange girl taking pictures on your street. Thanks Durham, for having a heart.

Making / things that I break / to fix them / and break them again / I pass my time
photo taken 2006 in Granada, Spain from a moving car

Yesterday I watched this Frontline documentary about kids getting life imprisonment. According to the website, “the United States is one of the only countries in the world that allows children under 18 to be sentenced to life without parole.” This topic has interested me ever since learning that my current state of residence, NC, has sentenced children ages 13 and 14 to life imprisonment. Youth can be tried as adults in every state in the union, and over 2300 people are serving life imprisonment without parole, for crimes they committed under the age of 18.

Some other relevant information that highlights the inadequacy of punishing children with life in jail:

– Youth lack adult capabilities: kids brains aren’t as developed as adult’s brains, particularly in areas related to impulse control, risk assessment and moral reasoning.

– Racial/Class Bias: black youth arrested for murder are significantly more likely to be sentenced to life without parole than white youth arrested for the same crime. White youth are more likely than black youth to hire private counsel.

– Cycles of Abuse: youth imprisoned for life are frequently victims of parental neglect and abuse.

– Prison Rape: youth placed in adult penitentiaries are frequent targets of rape by older inmates.

This information is particularly striking when considering that three NC death row inmates have been freed within the past six months, with judges citing inadequate evidence and flaws in their defense. Today the NC General Assembly held a special hearing on the death penalty (we currently have an unofficial moratorium on all executions).

If these adults have been represented improperly, what’s the likelihood that children serving life sentences have been as well? I hate to think of the wasted potential of so many children… just passing time.

Collage made from construction paper, pictures from magazines ( BUST and a Target circular), and plastic sanitary pad packaging; inspired by premenstrual rage and cramps.

It’s that time of the month where I feel like ripping people’s faces off. I want to lock myself in my room, eating chocolate and watching romantic comedies and/or Frontline documentaries. Popping Advil and other painkillers as necessary.

Yes, I love my period as much as any gal. It can be painful and emotionally wrenching, but also kind of nice to have a reminder that your body is working the way it’s supposed to. Plus, didn’t you know that menstruation created the world?

Sometimes I long for a Red Tent right here and now. Others, I feel really lucky to have a room, chocolate, and various forms of entertainment to retreat to during this special yet annoying time. It’s actually kind of perfect.

Stencil found outside Carrboro, NC police department parking lot. Interestingly, this stencil was up for several months before being scrubbed off recently.

No, I’m not actually advocating running over cops, and I don’t think they’re all pigs. They’re human beings doing their jobs. Sometimes I feel safer when police are around, for example directing traffic late at night. My criticism is not with all individual police officers, but a system that enables police misconduct and police brutality. My beef is with police who abuse their power.

The three members of the NYPD who shot and killed Sean Bell in 2006 were acquitted last week. Despite over 50 witnesses who saw the undercover officers shoot Bell 50 times, the judge found them not guilty. Among the many disturbing elements of this case, a few stand out to me:

1) The excessive use of force. Why did one officer reload his gun, shooting Bell over 30 times? Properly trained officers should only need one well-aimed shot to critically injure a suspect.

2) The police were undercover, and approached Bell’s car with a gun. If someone wearing civilian clothes approached you with a gun, wouldn’t you try to get away as quickly as possible?

3) According to an editorial in The New York Times, “undercover officers said that they stayed within the allowed limit of two alcoholic beverages, but they were not tested.” I was unaware that police can drink on the job. Alcohol impairs judgment and diminishes performance, which leads most employers to forbid drinking at work. Why is the police department any different? Perhaps a drink may be helpful during certain undercover operations, but why were no breathalyser tests performed, as they would be on any alleged violent offender found outside a bar?

4) All three officers are still employed by the NYPD and, according to another article, “are all eager to get back to regular police work.” How can New Yorkers be assured that the officers will not behave similarly in the future?

This case bears chilling resemblance to the 1999 shooting death of West African immigrant Amadou Diallou by four members of the NYPD. Police officers shot Diallo 41 times while he stood on his stoop, and were later acquitted of all charges. Shortly after the verdict, two more young unarmed black men were killed by the NYPD: Patrick Dorismond was fatally shot by an undercover narcotics officer, and Malcolm Ferguson was killed by an undercover officer during a drug bust in the Bronx. None of these police officers were ever charged with or found guilty of any crimes.

Then-police commissioner Howard Safir was widely criticized for mismanagement, while then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s Street Crime Unit (responsible for most of these incidents of police brutality) was eventually disbanded. Please note that both men developed prostate cancer shortly after this wave of police violence, which curtailed their immediate career advancement. Safir stepped down from his position as commissioner, while Giuliani, in circumstances that would be repeated nearly eight years later, dropped out of the 2000 race for Senate against Hillary Clinton. Interestingly, some members of the Haitian voodoo community claimed responsibility for their illnesses.

The moral of this story? Methinks we need a little voodoo magic back in NY.

I wrote this in 2001 and it’s still relevant. Especially the last line: “no one is expendable.”

A love letter in mini-zine format to my once-adopted hometown, Cleveland, OH. I made this almost 5 years ago, upon leaving Cleveland to travel across country.

Title page: Leaving Cleveland

Page 2: People say you can surf Lake Eerie.

Page 3: Cleveland is toxic but I love it and I love you all. You are all the twisted seeds that grow up crooked and strong, determined and stubborn from the mercury-laden soil — you are all so lovely growing in the heat, my friends. I wish for you to continue growing on your crooked, stubborn, and wildly colorful path, and I’ll grow on mine.

This stencil pasted onto an electrical box is located on Main Street in downtown Carrboro, NC. I am holding one corner down because it started peeling off (see below to view without my finger).

I love the smart people in my town who are making public art regarding immediate concerns, even though I don’t know who they are.

It’s the economy, stupid. An article in The Economist points to four major factors contributing to the looming US recession which is already affecting so many Americans: housing prices, credit, food & fuel prices, and unemployment.

On the first issue, housing, it is estimated that millions of Americans will lose their homes due to sub-prime mortgages. According to the BBC, one in ten houses in my former home of Cleveland, OH is now vacant. It may be useful to consider the parties responsible for this crisis: many people are pointing to Alan Greenspan’s (mis)handling of interest rates as Fed chairman, while Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson, who leaves office this week, encouraged sub-prime lending.

On food and fuel prices: oil prices reached a record high this Wednesday at $115/barrel, while food prices are affecting school lunch menus in US schools. The US economic slowdown has had a ripple effect throughout the world, as political and economic leaders acknowledge food prices have reached “emergency proportions” in developing countries.

Yes, this is all quite sobering news. For some much-needed comic relief, I turn to The Majesticons’ 2003 album “The Beauty Party,” a satiric, melodic hip-hop exploration into lifestyles of the rich and fabulous: “Alan Greenspan, get your hands up! Billy Gates, get your hands up!”