The book I am doing will focus on graffiti and not street art. But you may ask, isnt that the same thing? The answer is no.
Graffiti is about writing your name more stylishly, bigger, better and in more places than anyone else. There is an intense focus on typography and letter formation. Street art, as far as I understand it, is about pushing a concept on the steet or giving some kind of message, even if that message is as simple as “I want to make this wall look more colourful”. Obviously like anything there are grey areas in between and many artists crossover between the two.
I believe that Cape Town’s most commited “wall painters” have mostly been graffiti artists and not street artists, hence the focus of this book. Even if street art is not my focus, it is still fun to look at.
This picture is of a mural in Woodstock by Black Koki as part of the I Art Woodstock mural project curated A Word of Art.
The Funding Obstacle
I always thought the difficulty with writing a book was to find a publisher. I have this image in my head of writers like JK Rowling being refused by a submissions department of a some publishing house.I dont believe finding a publisher is the biggest obstacle. The obstacle is finding funding.
I am lucky that I have managed to save every extra penny and can fund the book myself. But this has two problems: it puts me under financial risk if the book doesnt sell and more importantly I dont have the funds to do a large print run so the unit cost is very high (which makes it more difficult to sell).
I have been hoping an angel investor will drop out the sky and contribute R50000 to fund the book but realistically I will not get that lucky. But there is hope! And that hope comes in the form of crowd funding, through kickstarter. Each person can pledge a small amout and in return could receive a copy of the book signed by one of the artists interviewed. Sounds to me like a win-win situation.
If you have tried crowd funding before let me know, and if you think crowd funding is a good idea for this book also let me know.
This photo wont make it into the book but I would love to hear to story of why the pieces were stopped halfway. Most likely some loud mouth local councillor trying to enforce the graffiti bylaw.
The flick was taken with a Samsung Galaxy SII, pretty impressive for a camera phone.
Did a Cell C job where I had to get three photographers from different SA cities to take photos of graffiti or street art with a samsung camera phone. This was Lerato’s shot of Searle Street.
Searle Street has been such an important part of the Cape Town scene. I went to my first jam there which Wealz had organised. Think that was in about 2004/2005. Most recently, Shelflife and I organised the Artliftment Park Jam there and the pieces you see in this photo are from there. Glad to see it hasnt been touched much since April.
Progress
Hello fellow graffiti enthusiasts.
Currently, 90 pages of 150 have been finished and there is more than enough content to fill the other 60 pages. These pages include interviews with the likes of Dek3, Deus and many others.
I am very busy at the moment but my time free’s up towards the end of the year so I am confident it will be finished before we hit 2012. The major obstacle, as with any project, is funding. I am able to fund the book myself as a last resort but if I find funding many more books can be printed in the first edition and the cost per book is reduced considerably. This will make it cheaper for you.
If you know anyone who would be interested in funding the book please contact me on submitptt@gmail.com . Please note I am not looking for charity… they would receive income from the sales of the books.
Thanks
Laying out begins!
After initially hiring a designer to do the layout for me, he had other commitments and had to leave the project. So I was left with a dilemma: Find another designer or do the layout myself? I decided on the latter.
So a new PC was bought, InDesign loaded and tonight it all started. I am keeping it extremely simple and rather formulaic. I began by laying out the Dek3 interview (yes sir, DEK3!!!!) , then moved onto the Coe and Jest texts. 18 pages done!
Booom.
Here is an old Dek3 photo I had hiding on my computer to those who have forgotten the bombing legend.
Call for submissions
So you are a Cape Town writer and you have heard that we are doing the ultimate book on Cape Town graffiti. Paint fades but a book will last forever. How can you get involved?
The majority of the book focuses on interviews with selected writers. Most of these interviews have been done already.
There is going to be a separate section in the book for stories from any other writers. No matter if you are toy or you have been going solid for 10 years, graffiti puts you in some pretty crazy situations. Its these stories which we want to hear. To bring the story to life we would also like you to include a photo with the story.
We want your best graffiti story and a relevant photograph.
Submissions can be posted to the following address:
P O Box 15233
VLAEBERG
8018
You can also email submissions to submitptt@gmail.com
* Photos must be a high res as possible.
