Graffiti Art

We're talking to Juse 1, who's part of the Triple S crew, whose work you can see at Waitangi Park, and alongside this interview.

How did you get involved with graf (graffiti)?
I started seeing it around in Karori, I liked it and started sketching it. I also got into reading "the source" which used to do a section on graf. Then I met Kerb who got me started and I introduced Jestah and Drex to graf (college friends).

So who's your crew?
Our crew's called Triple S and that's Juse 1, Jestah, Drex, Kerb 1, Spex, Reakt and Truce. (And big thanks for to all of them for the work you see in our webpages).

How did you guys get started down at Waitangi (was Chaffers) Park?
Kerb found it and we started working there, no one hassled us so we kept going. The Lambton Harbour Board agreed that they liked it so it's continued.

So what's happened since you guys started writing at Waitangi
Well we're the only commercial writers in Wellington. We've designed clothing tags, posters, stuff for Smokefree. We worked with the Respect exhibition at the Dowse, with walls both inside and outside which lead to a commission with Mission Hall Design. And I've been designing tattoos for guys like Mareko, which is something I'd like to get more involved in.

You guys are involved with the hip hop summit in Auckland? What's it about and what are you guys doing with it?
The summit lasts 2 days and covers all elements of Hip Hop. We've been there for the last three summits. We do a stage show with rhyming & painting daytime in Aotea Square. Its called Disrupt the System with Auckland writer Askew, who also brings in Internationals to share skills and tips.

Who were your heroes and influences, in the past and now?
Writers were Seen, FX crew, Dondi, Duster, Can2, Swet, TWS crew, T-KID, COPEZ, Modez. The films, stuff like Wild Style and Beat Street. Books like Broken Windows and the documentary Style Wars.

Do you guys do much with younger kids to share the skills?
Yeah, we've worked with kids at risk in Lower Hutt and Johnsonville to further their skills, pass down the knowledge, because that's how you learn and how the skills are passed down. In New Zealand we're pretty late to the scene but we've got good crews all over the country.

Where do you think this'll go in the future? We've got better products so everyone's work's looking better, we started with $5 Warehouse cans, so big advances. There's lots of younger guys in crews which is good, not enough in Wellington though. People will start to see it as a legitimate art form, Respect did a lot in that way within Wellington. Hopefully it'll get bigger and more common, with more walls and less stigma.

Thanks to the crew for the art work they've let us use on our site, and to Juse for talking to us and his work on this page. Check out their work at Waitangi Park on Cable Street.

To see the last ever graf at Chaffers check out the Later Chaffers page thanks again to the Triple S crew.

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Graffiti Art