USA Projects

I am a visual artist and writer based in Richmond, Virginia with a background in painting graffiti, which is the basis for this project. In the summer of 2004, I began serving ten months in jail for vandalism crimes in the central Virginia and Washington DC areas. My story is an increasingly common one that stands in contrast to the idea that involvement in graffiti invariably leads to a successful career as a gallery artist. For this project, I plan to detail my experience with graffiti and incarceration in a print memoir that is filled with both compelling descriptions of life in jail and rich reproductions of the artwork I created while serving time. I am seeking financial assistance for the period of time when I will be compiling and writing the book, professionally documenting artifacts relating to my confinement, and further researching topics related to incarceration in America.

This project will focus on my personal story, while also placing it in the larger context of art, graffiti, and the legal system. I got involved in vandalism at fifteen and quickly became consumed by the lifestyle of finding “spots,” stealing supplies, and spending nights sneaking around the worst, most dangerous sections of the urban landscape. Where graffiti led me was not the halls of major museums, but rather 18-hour lockdown cells with convicted bank robbers and illegal immigrants being held on gun running charges. This story is important to tell because it is what the vast majority of graffiti writers experience, contrary to what media accounts such as “Exit Through the Gift Shop” portray. It is the story of taking true risk in the pursuit of making art, and suffering the consequences.