AM & DCAP Interview On Fatcap.com →
It was amazing to be able to review what we’re working on through someone else’s eyes. Thanks, Lindsay!
11/1 Weekly Inspiration: Miss 163, Current TV, Whip My Hair
By Daniela
*****Miss 163****
While I was in Paris, my friend emailed me to say she knew of a female writer who was from the Bronx. Miss 163 is in Maripussy Crew, with members from Peru and Spain.
She’s also a Fulbright scholar and actively works with youth in the Bronx. Today (11/6) Miss 163 came by so we could discuss my project. This woman is mad inspirational. We’re going to figure out a time next week for me to shoot her doing her thing.
The dream is that I can go with her to Peru next year for two weeks and meet / shoot her whole crew. We’ll see… <3
Maripussy is a play on the Spanish word for Butterly (mariposa), which is often slang for vagina.
This is a 5 story wall Miss 163 did with her crew in Peru last year:
Meeting with Miss 163 helped me to renew my focus on this project. I’ve been kind of all over the place since returning to NYC on 10/16. I was working really hard to handle health insurance crap & to secure freelance gigs, but now I can come out of my little hole and create.
*****CURRENT TV****
Thanks to my new staff gig with Current TV (started 11/3), I am traveling for work to San Francisco on 11/20. I’ll be working from Cali until February 2011, so you KNOW I’m going to spend my free time meeting / documenting female writers in SF, LA, and wherever I can in between!!!!
I love so much of Current TV’s programming, it’s one of my favorite channels. This is definitely a “dream job” that I’ve wanted for a long time.
Even more beautiful is that this new chapter in my professional life coincides perfectly with my project and my desire to be bi-coastal. My dream came true by putting in the work, focusing on what I wanted, emotional support & prayers from my family and friends, and folks from my network who believed in me. THANK YOU <3 <3 <3
*****WHIP MY HAIR****
Before I left for Paris, I did two stories for MTVNews.com about Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair” single leak and signing with Roc Nation. When I returned to NYC and watched her video mashup with a Sesame Street song, I died of cuteness overload.
Also… All this controversy about her age and complaints that she’s being sexualized is bullshit. Michael Jackson was younger than her when he started. Obviously she benefits from having famous parents, but that has nothing to do with how much I enjoy the song. “Whip my Hair” is fun, empowering to little girls (if their parents use it as a teaching tool) and makes me dance around my apartment. I’m not going to apologize for that! :D
Inspiration: LA Graffiti Girls →
From Daniela
LAGraffitiGirls.com is a blogumentary project dedicated to the influence of female graffiti writers in Los Angeles street culture. It was created by Tiffany Evans, a journalism student from California State University Long Beach.
The project officially ended in 2009 but she is continuing it after she graduates. She plans on releasing a book that would include a compilation of the interviews, photos, her research and personal experiences as an artist.
She shared this goal with Senses Lost:
“Right now, I’m just hoping to get an internship somewhere, preferably doing PR work or writing for a magazine, if I’m lucky. I’m hoping that my work on LA Graffiti Girls will be a stepping stone to a future career and maybe even a book.”
Tiffany is featured in CSULB’s CollegeBeat TV segment about graffiti. Watch the video here:
AM’s Wall Painted Over During Pyrénées Jam
From Daniela
The piece that AM did on 10/10 near Porte de Vincennes no longer exists, except for on this Tumblr, in photos and on video. Scroll to 1:45 in the clip to watch it disappear.
A theme that AM and I discussed in Paris was graffiti’s temporary nature and the state of mind an artist enters while creating something they know will disappear within a few months — sometimes that same day. AM went over another writer to create her work, and more people will go over the piece in the video. It’s a cycle of renewal and rebirth for a space visible to the community.
Similar to social justice work / activism, street art is just as much or more about the journey than the actual destination. When you are helping a cause, you do it knowing that problems will continue to arise. You know things will change, and your experience contributing to a movement is a gift that you give yourself.
In street art, participants in the culture know that nothing lasts forever. They create in the midst of destruction, as they augment the landscape and subvert accepted messaging on walls, billboards, and moving vehicles.
My goal with this project is to find and highlight the intersections between graffiti / street art and activism.
Paris Adventures: Searching For Jim Morrison’s Grave
By Daniela
Happy Halloween, friends and fam. In the spirit of the holiday, I wanted to share some photos from our 10/14 trip to Pere Lachaise Cemetery. I was in the mood to lose myself someplace quiet. I decided not to bring a map and would risk wandering around the rows of solemn stones, in search of Jim Morrison’s grave.
Surprisingly, what I ended up noticing the most was how much life can be found in a cemetery. There are plants, spiders and their patchwork webs, birds, and even cats. Living humans left their traces too; I spotted graffiti drawn and carved into stone after stone.
Jim Morrison’s grave site was smaller than I imagined. Not many tourists lingered, even for the fresh messages on a nearby tree.
For generations, groves of trees have stood watch over this place, witnessing the rise and fall of generations.
More pics and videos coming soon…
10/25 Weekly Inspiration: Blips, Italy, Sherm
From Daniela
Researching / contacting new subjects. Handling health care bullshit. Scheduling meetings, going to meetings. Rescheduling meetings. Logging footage, being frustrated / inspired by + falling in love with footage. Yup. Progress. 56 days until the first Mexico shoot…
Here’s what’s keeping me going this week:
SONG - CRYSTAL CASTLES - NOT IN LOVE ft. Robert Smith
WALL - BR1, FAVALA, SICILY
source: http://unurth.com/
FEMALE WRITER - SHERM - COI CREW- LOS ANGELES http://www.shermgrafik.com/
I am going to start doing a weekly recap post so I can share my progress; people I’m shooting, meetings I’ve attended, AM’s updates, etc. Stay tuned.
Catching Tags
By Daniela
This is a love song to late night mischief. I am going to come up with a more sophisticated method for blurring faces but until then I wanted to put this back up ASAP.
Memories From RSTYLE
photo: AM (left) and DCAP (right)
From Daniela
AM uploaded a bunch of great pics from her shoot at RSTYLE. Visit her blog to see them all.
Thanks again to all the folks at RSTYLE and to Idriss who photoshopped out my crazy pimples from that day. Love ya
P.S.: More videos from our Paris adventures are coming soon… I’m dealing with the U.S. health care system right now and it’s consuming my life like the nothing from Neverending Story, but I will overcome!!!
Video Inspiration: Banksy-Directed ‘The Simpsons’ Opening
We’re back in NYC, but that doesn’t mean this is the end of Grrrl We In Paris. Not at all. This Tumblr will continue to grow as we travel for different shoots, plus we still have loads of photos and videos from Paris that we’ll be rolling out over the next few weeks.
We just need to catch up on our sleep. I (DCAP) was stuck in Dublin for four hours and had my first experience with racial profiling at the airport. My airline security prejudice cherry was popped, and it hurt.
We’ll be back soon. Until then, enjoy the clip. Banksy conceived of, and directed, the opening moments of last weekend’s episode. Almost every writer we spoke to in Paris brought up his film Exit Through the Gift Shop (read this cool production diary) so it seemed appropriate to share this. Plus The Simpsons still own.
AM’s 4th Wall In Paris: Porte de Vincennes With Kashink
From Daniela
AM completed her 4th & last wall (for this trip) in Paris on 10/13, which was a collaboration with the amazing Kashink. I shot time lapse video for 7+ hours so you know that is going to be shared on here ASAP.
AM returned once again to Porte de Vincennes, only this time she took over the ill corner spot with Kashink. Their collaboration is HUGE! I hope it lasts through the end of the year…
It’s crazy that on my birthday (9/29) we went to the Catacombs gift shop and AM had the “crazy” idea to contact Kashink after buying one of her customized notebooks. A few weeks later, tada! You just saw the manifestation of that notion. Sometimes all you have to do is ask.
Kashink is mad cool, down to earth, and open. She’s traveled to quite a few countries and speaks Spanish as well as English and French. Her style is so crazy, AM had a lot of fun painting with her. Kashink had to charm a security guard who was threatening to paint over the wall as soon as they were done, but by the time they were finished he was Mr. Nice Guy and it all turned out alright in the end. Ladies and their charms!
We all had a great time hanging out afterwards, drinking wine and sharing stories. She also came to our dinner the following night and brought lots of candy. She’s the best, Jerry! The best!
Time for AM and I to pack for the long trip back to NYC tomorrow (10/15). We’ll have more photos and videos (plus some exciting news about upcoming shoots) over the days & weeks to come so stay tuned…
Thanks again to everyone who helped make this trip so amazing and to everyone reading and supporting our Tumblr documentation. We love you.
xo
