🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 ah – sleep is over rated anyways 🙁 Heres some moody foggy graffiti shots – which is how my head is at the moment as I await the dawn and then hit a wall of exhaustion 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁
LittleWing, Down South and to the left a bit, January 2017… Read the rest
I am currently having a particularly long bout of insomnia. Im on my 16 day/night/whatever of broken/limited/barely any point sleep. So as Im grumpy Im editing some London shots.
Im not keen on London. I have some lovely friends who are from London, but I just prefer Birmingham as a place. These however are some nice shots I made recently.
If you squint top right you can see Wembley…..
LittleWing, London, January 2017… Read the rest
Graffiti has given me a whole lot of experiences both good and bad. Its given me the opportunity to look at the world in a very different way. Ive made many amazing friends and I have been welcomed in every country Ive travelled to to shoot their graffiti. But its the really secret stuff Ive done when Ive travelled, that has only been made possible by, in most cases, complete strangers who have trusted me and me conversely trusted them – where my real adventures have come from.
In Milan I was really made to feel at home. Im always amazed that when I travel that local contacts take time out of their lives to take me all over their hometowns to share many of their secrets. This particular adventure involved a bit of climbing, a watchman, a whole lot of nettles and the results are below. I said it back then but I will say it again – Milan (and in particular my very lovely hosts) – you are truly amazing – thankyou xx
Day of the Dead Trams……
Little Wing Lost, Milan, 2016
Back in the tail end of 2013, whilst up a ladder, a conversation with a writer about the possibility of shooting a celebrity in front of a wall of graffiti came about. It was sort of a dream of theirs. And it started me off to try and make that happen. As a Blues fan we talked about a ‘Zulu’ wall. As in – wouldn’t it be ace if they did a massive wall that said Zulu and then we got loads of original Zulus in front of it. Within a couple of weeks I visited a small shop in Brum having found out through the internet that this was where I could meet a proper old skool Brum lad. What I didn’t know until then was that I was about to meet a bloke who I had actually ‘nearly been mates with’ for thirty years. His name was Todd and between him and me we spent a long time after that first meeting many weeks talking to various other mates collecting what would be one of the largest gatherings of original Zulus in front of a graffiti piece painted specifically for them.
Todd and I came to realise that we had been ‘nearly mates’ because he went to school with my best mate Brett who also went to school with many of the Zulus who I did know but also many of my other school mates who had hung around with all the same people.… Read the rest
I firmly believe that Birmingham is the greatest of Cities. Of course the bias is completely there as I am from here, however, even though I have always felt that way, the travelling I have done over the last few years (which stepped up majorly over the last two years) has only confirmed that to me. We have a soul here. There is just something about Brummies that makes us really humble but really gobby at the same time. We don’t bang on about how great we are – but we are a City which has produced legends. And then (and I will come back to my thoughts on legends from this City in future blogs – as I have much to say about that hahaha) we have our beloved canals.
Now as a very happy little Brummie – I can remember long long ago when the canals – or the cut as I prefer to call them – weren’t anywhere near as ‘trendy’ as they have become now. Its all very delightful seeing these new paths – all smooth and lovely for cyclists – but I remember when you used to have hack your way through brambles..dodge empty Corona bottles and pretty much accept that your legs were going to be covered to nettles (and I COULD NEVER FIND A HOCK LEAF) if you dared to venture along the sides of any path by the cut.… Read the rest
I spend a great deal of my time researching these days. Im always reading something, talking to someone about something, travelling to look and photography something or writing about something. Its part and parcel of doing a PhD on a part time basis and its very very often a lonely road because I have to do all of this away from my main full time job. But I believe that if you are passionate about something then you should behave passionately about it. This was my bedroom in 1983. This wall was completed by me and my best pal at the time Suzanne – she was an amazing portrait artist and unlike me also did art at school (which by this time I wasn’t attending all that much). I was a nightmare at this time in my life. I was rebelling against everything and everyone and I was also suffering/hiding the beginnings of what was possibly early signs of an eating disorder. But apart from the eating disorder bit – an explanation of which I fully intend to return back to at some point on this blog – I was – quite honestly – having the greatest days of my life.… Read the rest
Crazy beautiful city but the best part of Prague for me when I visited back in 2009 was to visit the graffiti memorial – John Lennon Wall.
Its mad to think that this wall has been covered in Lennon inspired graffiti since the early 1980s. But it has. Apart from an (ironic) act of vandalism (yeah I said it was ironic) back in 2014 when the wall was painted completely white over night with just the words THE WALL IS OVER written in black spray paint – this wall has been a mecca for Lennon fans and graffiti writers from all over the world for decades. It stayed white for less time than a hall of fame in London so within a few hours it was back to being covered in graffiti inspired by love, friendship, hope and of course Lennon lyrics.
This is a brief explanation of why and how the wall is there :
… Read the rest
John Lennon and the Communist regime
Lennon was a hero to the pacifist youth of Central and Eastern Europe during the totalitarian era. Prior to 1989 when communism ruled, western pop songs were banned by Communist authorities, and especially John Lennon´s songs, because it was praising freedom that didn’t exist here.
My first visit to Barcelona was in 2004. Exactly a year after we had lost our Dad, which was exactly two years after we had lost our Mom. Me and my brother decided to get away from the grieving and awfulness for a bit. We just wanted to go anywhere, it didn’t matter where. Barcelona was mega cheap and I was just starting to pick up my camera again after two and half years of not touching one with about five years before that of barely having opportunity because my children were so …well….childreny.
Graffiti spotting wasn’t a major priority to me at this time. I still took the odd shot of tagged up walls, because I always have, but not much of anything was a priority to me at that time. My whole family were still shell shocked by all the events of the previous two years. I had had a lot of additional stuff happen during this time of massive loss, including a divorce and trying to keep my home. Or the roof over the kids heads. I basically was just grateful to get away from Birmingham, and real life.
I did find a few walls I liked the look off and this is one of them.… Read the rest