Nigerian Artist Soldier on Skateboarding, Moving to London, and Art
SOLDIER is a Nigerian-born, London-based artist who began making art at a young age and, at 16, left home and supported himself by selling drawings. Seeking a fresh start, he relocated to London, where he couch-surfed, skated, and attended university, where exposure to established art institutions expanded his perspective. He continues to develop a multi-disciplinary […]
How Brooklyn Artist Aya Brown Is Creating Art Rooted in Community
Aya Brown is a Brooklyn-based visual artist whose work reflects the lived textures of Flatbush, Caribbean lineage, and Black cultural memory. Gaining recognition for her Essential Workers series during the COVID-19 pandemic, she created portraits honoring Caribbean and Black nurses and healthcare workers who are often absent from mainstream representation. What began as drawings and […]
The New Era of Baker Skateboards: Sully Cormier
Sully Cormier is a professional skateboarder riding for Baker, Asics, and Supreme, originally hailing from Southwest Florida and now living in New York City. With opening parts in both Baker’s waterCRACKER and Supreme’s Play Dead, Sully’s approach to skateboarding is reminiscent of the early 2000s heyday of skateboarding, when speed, trick selection, and style defined […]
Rapper Trill Tega on Lagos Roots and London’s Underground Hip-Hop Scene
Trill Tega is an Irish-born Nigerian rapper making music in the hip-hop and Afrobeat style. Growing up in Lagos, Tega was exposed to Afrobeat at its source, where its rhythmic foundation would later become central to his approach, reflecting the continuing influence of African music on hip-hop today. He has collaborated with artists including Wale, […]
London Calling: How Graffiti Writer FATZO Moves Through London
London holds one of Europe’s most established graffiti scenes, with decades of writing embedded in the streets and the Tube network of the London Underground. That lineage continues today through writers such as FATZO. Hailing from North West London and raised in council estates; FATZO is one of the writers carrying the torch of London’s […]
Evilgiane Talks Surf Gang, 03 Greedo, and the Future of Heaven’s Gate
Born in Brooklyn but raised in Manhattan’s Chinatown, Evil Giane spent his youth skating in the Lower East Side and writing graffiti with friends as SURF GANG. He developed his production style in public spaces, bringing his laptop to sessions and building beats in real time on FL Studio Mobile that he’d upload to SoundCloud. […]
The Downtown NYC Designer Blending British and American Style
Vanna Youngstein is a designer and stylist whose work is shaped by a dual upbringing between British and American cultures. Having lived in New York for over a decade, Youngstein draws constant inspiration from the city’s downtown creative community daily. What began as an obsession with clothing has evolved into a multidisciplinary practice spanning fashion, […]
Los Angeles Artist Alfonso Gonzalez Jr. on Graffiti, Sign Painting, and Contemporary Art.
Alfonso Gonzalez Jr. is an artist from Los Angeles whose work focuses on overlooked surfaces across the city. Gonzalez’s art was inspired by the graffiti murals he grew up seeing in his neighborhoods and by his father’s profession as a sign painter. Since his first solo show at Matthew Brown Gallery in Los Angeles, Gonzalez […]
How Futura 2000 Shaped New York Graffiti and Took It from the Subway to the World Stage
One of the most influential figures in graffiti and art, New York City’s Futura 2000 emerged from the subway movement of the 1970s to reinvent what graffiti could be. In 1980, he painted Break, the iconic whole car that highlighted his abstract, forward-thinking approach. Futura’s work began to travel internationally when he joined British punk […]
OUTERWEAR: A look into the jackets worn by New York City’s graffiti writers.
Jackets are both a fashion statement and an essential tool within graffiti culture. Beyond their aesthetic role, they function as a second skin, absorbing physical toll through exposure to harsh environments. For graffiti writers operating during late-night hours, jackets provide warmth, storage for paint and tools, and a means of blending into the landscape. Jackets […]
Barrington Levy: From Jamaica to the World
Barrington Levy is a legendary Jamaican reggae artist who emerged in the late 70s and became a driving force in reggae’s evolution. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Levy began releasing solo music at the young age of 14. His music reflects Jamaica’s late-1970s shift from roots reggae music to early dancehall; touching on social hardship, moral […]
Banlieue: Suburbs of Paris, a book by Living Proof.
“La Banlieue” are the low-income housing projects surrounding Paris. While the term Banlieue technically refers to any suburb of a city, in French discourse it is associated with densely populated high-rise housing projects marked by economic deprivation, with some of the neighborhoods infamously labeled as “no-go zones”. While often portrayed negatively by political figures as […]