THE ZANZIBAR RED COLOBUS...

I’ve been extremely blessed to be staying at a friend of mines fantastic guesthouse whilst in Johannesburg aka Jozi and they also found me a pretty damn fine wall to paint.

It was a late start on the wall, after an afternoon of running around fabric shops in the city collecting some new fabric snapshots. By around 2pm I started laying down the foundations of the painting.

A Zanzibar red colobus, (procolobus kirkii) have been registered as endangered for 26 years, since 1986. They are rapidly declining in numbers and it’s not the only colobus suffering from the same sad plight. This species is endemic to Zanzibar Island where it occurs at elevations of 0-110 m. They may once have lived on the mainland, but are completely extirpated there now. Red Zanzibars are now found mainly in the South Eastern part of the island in Jozani-Chwaka Bay National Park. In 1974 approximately 14 animals were introduced to Ngezi Forest Reserve, Pemba Island, where the species is believed to persist in small numbers but has never managed to sustain itself successfully to rebuild numbers.

Today’s population is estimated at 2,000 individuals but is decreasing rapidly mainly due to deforestation but occasionally as a result of hunting, sport and supposed pest control.

By the time it got dark, I was only half finished the wall so returned the following day to continue and decided that I wanted to introduce a second endangered guy to the wall; an Amatola Malachite or Basking Malachite. These insects are also decreasing rather rapidly, with no more than 1000 adults left. Unfortunately when the farmed cattle arrive at the river banks, they trample these little guys to death and they only live in a few sites, ten sites has recently decreased to two and the future of these beautiful insects is unknown.

lots of love to the elfin for continuously fixing my scrawls and making them legible...
im off to safari today so the next blog is all about what i find...iv been waiting to go on safari since i was about seven years old...bittttttt excited....

one love

AN EGYPTIAN VULTURE IN... HILLBROW JOHANNESBURG

So thanks to Disney and other screen presentations, we as the general public have a strange relationship with the vulture.  My first encounters with them were in South America and I was fascinated by watching them circling above in mass, tornado like cones. That was over 12 years ago now and unfortunately all species of vulture have experienced a rapid decline in numbers, 35% each year in fact, since 1999.

Africa is home to three very endangered vultures, one of which is the Egyptian. They cover a greater area than Egypt, finding homes in India, Eastern and Central Africa and also Europe.  There are a few reasons for their decline; the absorption of veterinary antibiotics which suppresses their immune system, declining habitat, urbanisation, a shortage of carrion, which they feed on and a whole host of other problems which they are fighting a losing battle against. The latter has a major knock on effect in the ecosystem, as if the carrion increases but the vulture population continues to decrease, then disease will inevitably become more widely spread. Vultures are imperative for cleaning up the lands death, which is not limited to animals, according to the religious practice of the Parsi people, their dead bodies cannot be buried or burnt because the corpses could pollute the Panchabhootam (earth, water, air, ether and fire). So their bodies are left in a high-rise ‘Tower of Silence’ to be consumed by the scavengers. Vultures were the first scavengers on Earth and are vital to a sustained ecological balance.

I painted this piece with a couple of graff writers from the Demolition Squad. Painting with writers is great because it changes the way that the composition of the piece works. The walls are always much longer and often not as high. We painted in an area, that like most graff or street art related areas in a city, are run down and full of lots of community involvement. This wall was no exception, we had only primed the wall when a lady with her yappy toy dog turned up demanding that we didn’t paint evil things. Over the next hour we heard this from another three or so people and we started to feel a lot of hate. This soon changed as the day progressed and the piece evolved, we eventually won the community over…

Much love to my new Jozi homies, hopefully I’ll get another piece done with these guys before I return to Capetown next week…

the guy taking the photograph above is a sick photographer... 

here is a link to his website...i urge you to take the webtrip over and have a look...hes also coming over to london in a couple months so im sure that we will be painting a few pieces together in london soon...

http://sheldonwins.tumblr.com

 MASAI IN SOUTH AFRICA ... AN ENDANGERED PROJECT

The art of being creative and creating art itself is something that has always been a part of my life since I was a kid, in fact it’s more or less the only thing I have ever felt I could do with real confidence. I began working with spray cans three years ago as I believe in constantly challenging myself as much as possible, however the constant bombardment of Internet street art viewing has left me feeling exhausted by something I truly love. It is this weariness which lead me to realise that if I’m going to continue painting on the streets and be a part of this cyber viewing craze, then I need a message and purpose behind what I’m doing. Although one of the most inspiring things that has come from this new age of accessible Internet art, is seeing that artists are now traveling the world painting walls from one land to the next, spreading their voice. Last year I spent time in Jamaica and this year I’m in South Africa, where half of my Dad’s side of the family live. With the desire to paint for purpose, I have embarked on a new painting project to highlight the plight of endangered animals, which, whilst it is difficult to be precise as many species die out without even being discovered, is a problem which continues to get worse.

Wednesday 20th February

I arrived in Capetown and sat down to indulge in peaches and juice with Indigo and her friend Raphael, at my adopted apartment for the month. By mid-afternoon on Thursday I had bought around 50 cans of paint and set to work planning my train journey up to Johannesburg. That evening I found myself in Woodstock for an art talk with Remed and Freddy Sam, which left me feeling even more amped for painting, not only during this trip but on walls around the world.

The Train to Johannesburg: Two Hours Down, 24 to Go

I’ve always wanted to take a long train journey, I’ve been on a fair few long bus journeys through South America but never a 26 hour train ride and the prospect is exciting. A few people tried to persuade me to take a flight but I won’t be told, I know when I need to tread a path, there’s an eternal passing landscape and for me, that’s the beauty of a train, the track always runs through the wilderness. Two hours in and I don’t know for sure but it seems that apart from some obvious heavy drinkers, I’m among a safe crowd. The sleeper cabins which are suggested for tourists were all full, so I’m in Third Class where all the action happens. I’m among clicks of Afrikaans and women singing, im quietly beaming.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Six Hours in a Tin Can

Blazing sun, tensions are rising, there’s now a genuine and palpable discomfort amongst some of the passengers. Is it the heat, is it the alcohol or is it just who they are? The afternoon sun draws to an end and I know it will start cooling down again soon, but not for a while. It’s time to listen to some music. Cigarette smoke fills my nostrils and burns my eyes. I can’t keep my eyes open longer than an hour, can’t keep them closed half of that. I’m learning my levels of tolerance.

24 Hours

I feel like I’m in a moving prison, my eyes are so heavy with sleep deprivation, my bowels expanded with no relief. Rumour has it we are sentenced to a two hour delay. The night got rowdy, people fought, young men prowled the train corridors looking for a pickup, everyone is drinking the boredom away. The morning is much quieter, we all shuffle on our seats looking for the next least uncomfortable position.

30 Hours Later

I’m here, I’m actually pulling into Johannesburg. Now can I go and paint please?

many thanks to ro elfberg for grammerising my punk ass

THE CALLY SQUARK

Cally Fest is a community run street festival, based in the northern lands of london. After the painting that i created there last year of lola my recently passed boxer dog i feel a very close attachment to the street. I spent the whole of last week up a monkey lift painting this new mural being asked.. if i done that painting of the bulldog round there...yup thats me...thats proper mate, proper... Its nice to know that even as a painting my girl has made impacts on peoples lives...any way so a new year, a new wall, one i been eyeing up since November last year... timed perfectly to launch this years Cally fest as lola did last year.

Cally website 

HERE 

when i decided to paint macaws on this street, i wasn't really aware of why, other than i thought it would be cool to paint with so many insanely vibrant  colours. After a week of painting i realised that it was humorously apt that the squark of cally road matched the squark of parrots.

 The actual street that i was painting-Tilloch street is the boundary of one of the gangs...they are mainly youth and they all ride on bikes or mopeds, seldom on foot. They are pretty un threatening or at least they were accommodating to me, but one afternoon two kids decided to throw bottles and stones at me whilst i was balancing some 50ft up in the sky, balancing on the tip of the lift, painting this guys feather tips...and i do wear flip flops so yeah was a bit sketchy at times...

macaws come from latin america and in conjunction with my current works i added fabric patterns to the feathers. I also added a few musical apparatus in an attempt to link in the painting i did last year of lola... where she is wearing headphones.

Unfortunately the monkey lift didn't reach to the top of the wall and so i had to stop three quarters up... its my aim to get some funds together to finish the wall with a couple more birds... any ideas are welcome at this point.

it didn't seem right to be painting this street on my own and so i invited some friends to join in on the fun...enter hunto, tizer and milo...hopefully more pieces will continue to arrive...

tizer

WEB LINK

hunto

WEB LINK

milo

WEB LINK

with thanks and praise to one of my favourite london street art photographers 

Myriam Preston

50 GAZELLES AND A MOVIE

THE HEARD OF 50-GAZELLES

Just before i left london i released a print called my african ears...on the last layer i pulled through 50 newspaper prints in black...these are the prints now adorning jamaica...i took 50 because jamaica is celebrating this year its 50th anniversary of independence...it seemed apt to link these two elements together...i also love the fact that there is 50 over there roaming like a heard of gazelles would do in africa...

OK so you know how they say multi tasking is something that you can either do or you cant...well i always see my self as a bit of a multi tasker...so i forecasted us painting, promoting, setting up meetings, photographing and yeah also filming everything we were doing...louis...that aint multi tasking thats just plain ridiculous, attempting the impossible...is it?

 we managed to somehow film and edit this little movie which still needs a few typos sorted but im very happy with it...nuff love to my man irfhan for doing the editing....

MOVIE HERE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkpMunzdINM

Below is a selection of the prints that were put up...

CASAVA PIECE KINGSTON

HELLSHIRE KINGSTON

HELP JAMAICA KINGSTON

PORT ANTONIO

TREASURE BEACH FRENCHMANS COVE ST ELIZABETH

  

TUFF GONG KINGSTON

 GAYLE ST MARY 

UPTOWN KINGSTON

 OCHIO RIOS 

A ROUTE MAP OF WHERE TO FIND THE WORK IN JAMAICA

NEXT STOP IS THE SHOW IN JUNE...

KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED...

ONE LOVE...

HELP JAMAICA...ROUND FIVE...THE LAST PAINT

HELP...                              

KINGSTON... 
NICE UP THE WALLS... 

im not even sure i know why i have taken so long to get this chapter blogged...chapter five...the final paint...it certainly was a very busy last ten days... three paintings, several live shows, lots of pasting, and an interview, we were kinda glad we had come to a closure, sad that we would be off in a few days but it felt good to finish in a school..we started in a school so made perfect sense to finish in one...

help jamaica is a purely sponsorship funded project...its run by a couple of germans that became inspired to start there own library/project after seeing the impact that trench town reading and writing school had on the trench town community...its based in cassava piece kingston, next to two rivalling gully side communities...the desire was to provide a service to two separated communities in an attempt to merge them together. There is an education programme for adults as well as children, reading writing, art, and many other necessary subjects are taught on the grounds after school hours and in to the evenings for the adults. The centre has gone from strength to strength, building more classrooms and expanding its library contents continuously...there is a particularly strong reference to afrocentric books on the shelves...

I have painted a few madarills in the last couple of years...what i love about this animal is that it has such vibrant colours in its face, i love making the features pop out of the wall...several paintings down the line and i was finally getting used to the Jamaican sprays...i wont be missing them though..hahahaha...Hille, founder of help, asked us to adorn the paintings with a message to the audience...so both our paintings adopted pencils behind their ears...these guys below started doing some martial arts practise on the wall, had to snap some shots...there were a lot of youth around us whilst we were painting this wall as u would expect in a school...it was great to give them an insight to what can be achieved with paint and some dedication...

Given that it is the penultimate intention of nice up the walls to launch a jamaican visual arts school...it was really important to link up with a centre like help...our heads were filled with thoughts and realistic scenarios as to how that will come about...i feel optimistic that it can happen and that the first stage has been incredibly successful... the next step will be a show documenting what has happened in london and then we will look for funding to fly back out there with a large group of international artists...nice up the walls is just getting started...but it has started...

click HERE for a link to help jamaica....

THERE IS LOTS MORE PHOTO ON THEIR WEBSITE OF THE PAINT

 

I wonder if hille and i saw duppy or something in this photo....

we have the same perplexed expression...hahahahaha

lindas blog soon come....click for link...HERE