Live Painting Gig Friday March 13th NYC

Friday, March 13th TYS (Tres, Cece, Miguel, & Borish) will be doing a live painting performance in NYC. Come out and support.

Borish of TYS @ Berkeley Tech HIgh School

Last week Borish (Mincho Vega) did a mural at Berkeley Tech High School for their Beats Rhymes & Life after school program.

Photos by Leo Docuyanan


Photo by Borish (sorry for the patchwork. the room was small.)



Thank you Tomas, Wonway, & the staff @ BTech.

Yoshi in Chile

Hello Folks,

Landed in Santiago, Chile and it has been non stop from the moment I hit the ground. I am being hosted by my friend, Cekis, an amazing painter and by the word on the street one of the most famous graff writers in Chile. You would never know by his humble demeanor, but no doubt he is a beast with paint...

The first wall, I climbed down into a ravine where it is like a painters dream. Huge walls, shade, no one to bother you.... and the river running behind. Climbing down was a challenge because it was like 30 feet down from the street level so even with a super tall ladder one still needed to rope climb down about 10 feet. This was definitely scary for me, but with a little persuasion I made it down this rope with my T-rex arms. It was nothing to the guys..



Below is a photo of the piece Cekis and his crew (Horate, Grin and Rick) did together. They are considered the premier collective in Santiago for graff. There probably isn't a Chile graff book that they aren't in. Graff in Chile really blew up during the 90's... before that folks were writing political messages on the walls but doing Pieces came later. Their murals are impressive not only in size but in precision and detail. This one doesn't reflect their mural collaboration style but was more of a fun and quick piece. The mural isn't finished at this stage. I still need to return to get a final picture...



There are a few things I have learned from being in Santiago. Everyone's characters are animated and their own. Folks are pushing limits with perspective and creating their unique style. In addition, I am getting schooled on mixing cans, stretching paint, and taking the pressure out of the can by holding it upside down for can control and fine lines... I gotta say I got mad respect for folks out here, some do whatever they can to just paint... even if they have a lot or a little materials folks make it happen. Young guys are not only tackling huge walls by themselves, but whole building. All of this has put much into perspective for me.

So here is the first collaboration I was lucky to be a part of in Santiago, Chile. It is in a area called Barrio Bellavista. It is right down the street from the BOMB Gallery. The graff gallery that has over 5 rooms and two stories all dedicated to graffiti.



This is a collaboration between: Cekis (Chile), Cern (NYC), Dacot (Chile), and Yoshi (LA). Hope you enjoy... Tomorrow we take off to Valparaiso... sounds like painters paradise. It is another city an hour and a half away where graf is supported and it is by the beach... I may never leave....


Click to enlarge.
Cekis, Cern, Dacot and Yoshi

Much love to all... I will keep in touch...

Yoshi
Trust Your Struggle Collective

Erin (Yoshi) in Santiago, Chile

Ladies and Gents,
We are proud to say that Yoshi aka Erin is safe and warm in Santiago, Chile where she will be staying for a minute and working with our folks CEKIS. Since she is not the best at keeping up with updates, we will do it for her. This just in from an email. Enjoy and pictures will come soon.

Love and Machetes
TYS Brooklyn


Santiago is amazing.  They are doing great stuff around graf here.  Man everyone is killing it with their crazy style.  It is very unique because everyone has their own style to do a character... most things are very cartoonized but with super skill.  So a bug is a super dope animated bug...nothing really realistic that I have seen.  Only a few people do it here.   And since walls are pretty easy to get people are doing humongous walls by themselves... even young guys...It is pretty impressive.

I didn't realize Cekis, Nelson, is like one of the most famous graf painter's in Chile.  That he is known as like the a super dope old skool writer because graf came about in his generation.  So he is super respected...  It is funny because he is so humble that you would not know.  I mean I knew he was super talented but it is just so cool to see the city support for the arts and his crew.  They have districts where every building has graf and today we went by a graf gallery that was two stories and each room was covered with pieces from folks from all over.  It is called BOMB and it says just covering the entrance for the whole two stories in black and white.

We are going to paint a piece a few doors down from the gallery.  It is someone's house but they gave us permission to paint it.  The wall is nice...

There are two things that have really impacted the way that I am thinking about my own work.  1) if you hold the can upside down for a few seconds like 20 sec or more.... the pressure is released so it sprays much more in control and smaller.  So folks here are using fat caps like skinnies by controlling the pressure in the can.... that was tight... shit they got lines so small they look like the super skinnies made with the top of the can.

2) People hella paint recessed... well it has been the most impressive thing I have seen.  People paint hella scenes in scenes by having them push back example... a fake bridge in the horizon and then a scene under the bridge... super detailed... but paint it pretty quick...I have seen other painter's do it but man they are doing it super dope.

Anywho I am well.  We start our wall tomorrow.  I am pretty nervous.  I came home today and sketched out my idea... I actually sketched... I am nervous cause you guys aren't here with me.  Who is going to tell me when my proportions are off or that I am using too many colors....who will make fun of my apron... well they probably will... but it is not the same....   Basically I miss you guys and I super thank you guys for teaching me so much...

I will be in touch soon...

E

Calais, France by Pooja P.

Hey everyone. This week I received an email from a good friend in Europe. Pooja does a lot of good work for women's rights and general human rights. She recently visited a camp site of men from around the world trying to get into the UK from France to look for work. Thought we'd share her words and photos. Remember, give thanks.

For those in Struggle,
TYS Collective Brooklyn


Hi everyone.....

I was in Calais, France for a few days this week at the invitation of Nouri who is an Afghan migrant and a survivor of the Schiphol Fire that burnt down a refugee detention center in Holland 3 years ago killing 11 migrants.
He took me there to show the situation of migrants that try to get to the UK from Europe. Mostly of Arab, Eritrean, Sudanese, Afghan and Kurdish descent; these migrants are fleeing a devastated life in the hope for a better one and in the process many end up shredded to pieces or frozen to death!



Calais, France is the port of departure in France where the trucks, cars and buses get on the ferries to cross to Dover, UK. It is also the place where the Euro-rail goes inside the Channel Tunnel. The Channel is a 50 km undersea rail tunnel linking UK to France for those who dont know!! This gives the migrants 2 different ways to get to the UK. Jump on top of the train before it gets inside the tunnel or hide inside or under the trucks which then gets ferried across!! The truck journeys are longer (some last 12-15 hours) and more dangerous but the train is much more harder to get into.

I met a lot of people; all men; living in filthy make shift tents by the port or in plastic tents in the bushes around the highway right before the ferry crossing. Around the highways live mostly Afghan and Kurdish refugees inside bushes and brambles that they call "the jungle". It is strewn with litter; bottles filled with urine, dirty clothes and mudstreaked shoes all over the place. 
Nouri had lived in the refugee camp Sangatte in Calais for 9 months; 7 years ago; and tried to cross the border many times. He finally succeded to cross once but the UK police in Dover found him; put him in jail for 6 months in Birmingham and sent him back to France who then sent him back to Holland which is where he had initially applied for asylum.

We used this story to get into the jungle and the ports. The migrants all wanted to know why the hell we were there; and why was i there with a camera!!! They told me they were allergic to journalists because; "first come the journalists and second the police". Twice they told me to put the camera away and later apologised after speaking with Nouri since i was his guest there and it was rude and unhospitable for them to speak to me like that. After they realised i wasnt a journalist they asked me to come back again soon if i wanted..

The camps were divided up into various nationalities and races but they all came together during meal times. 2 times/day a French organisation would bring food by the ports and all the men came out from the jungles to eat. It was quite a sight.
A lot of young people; many were 15-18. We got talking to a young Afghan boy who told us in a non chalant way how he had sat inside a freezer truck that morning for 6 hours. "The oxygen in the truck finished and i was choking", he said "when some freinds opened the door by chance and when they saw me all blue they rushed me to the hospital where i was given electric shock"..."now i am fine again, i will eat, sleep a little and try to find a safer way" he said laughing!!

I was in the jungle sitting around the fire with some Afghans when another young boy walked up. He said something in Pashto and everyone burst out laughing. Someone translated "He just walked 100 kms. Some crazy truck driver told him he would take him to the UK and took him to Belgium instead; so he had to walk back from Belgium". They all cracked up laughing again. The young boy had a packet of biscuit and looked at me; "I am so tired, i am going to sleep. The bastard truck driver must have thought it was funny or something", he said as he waved goodnight!!!

2 Eritrean men i spoke to told me that had walked through Sudan and Libya; got on the ferry to Italy and then proceeded to walk to Calais. They had tried to get to UK 3 times but had gotten caught all 3 times.



Everyone was living outdoors. It was freezing cold and they all huddled by the fire which burnt all day and night. Sleeping in my hotel room at night with the smell of the fire in my hair was a constant reminder of the privilage i had! A warm room!!!
The men were asking me if i knew how to get to the UK. I told them that it was horrible in the UK and maybe they should stay right there in France instead and try to build thier lives slowly but they all said the same thing. "Noone gives us work here in France. Noone wants us here. Atleast in the UK we have a big group of our people; our communities; they help us with work and find a place a live. And none of us speak French."

I met a Palestinian man and an English woman there. They were engaged to be married but since the Palestinian man had no documents, birth certificate, passports etc.. there was no way she could take him to the UK. He had tried 5 times in 2 weeks to get to the UK but got caught all 5 times. As they finished talking to us; they walked away with thier suitcases to try one more time that day. The Palestinian man gave me a packet of tissue as a gift before he walked away!!!! "Our people dont let guests leave without a gift" he said while i was trying to convince him that i didnt need anything!!

I managed to film about 40 mins and take some photos when i thought it was ok..since it was my first time there i couldnt impose with the camera. But the people made me promise that i would come back soon and stay with them in the camp if they were still there. "We have a clean and special tent for you since you are a woman" they told me.

The French government does nothing for the migrants. They had a refugee camp nearby in Sangatte which they closed down about 5 years ago. When the police catch them they just bring them back and let them free in the streets again. There were a total of about 800-1000 refugees in Calais when i was there. All with no clean clothes, no home, no warmth, no money and desparate.

"I know what we do is dangerous,"said a man as he described how he hangs on underneath the trucks for hours,"a lot of people die. But what can we do? We have no choice".

I was there for only 3 days this time. It has been a life changing experience for me. I hope to go back there soon and hopefully record these stories as much as i can.

In Struggle!!
Pooja

HOME GROWN Screening! SF Bay Area! Jan. 3rd.

Jan. 3rd
San Francisco Preview Screenings of HomeGrown: HipLife In Ghana



Q&A w/ Eli Jacobs Fantauzzi, Director
V.I.P (vision in Progress), HipLife Stars Live from Ghana
Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco
446 Valencia Street, CA 94175
Mantinee @ 3pm Evening @ 8pm
$5-$10 Suggested Donation

To All The Shoe Throwers Out There