Still Alive, Graffiti writer since 1989
Born in 1978, I started writing my name on walls at the age of eleven. During my teenage years, I spent most of my time skateboarding, listening to punk and hip-hop music, getting inspired by Thrasher Magazine, Yo! MTV Raps, and the local Swiss graffiti magazine 14K.
The 90's, marked by the golden hip-hop years, influenced me not only musically but also in terms of my design work, and I began to focus more on graffiti.
After my secondary school years, I attended the preliminary course at the School of Design in Biel.
In 1996, I created a prototype for a graffiti magazine with a colleague. A year later, the idea was followed up, and the graffiti magazine Nonstop Magazine, which still exists today, was launched. Trips to New York City, Austin TX, Los Angeles and San Francisco, helped strengthen my network in the international graffiti scene and helped establish Nonstop Magazine as an international graffiti magazine.
In 2001 i settled in Bern. The Layup Graffiti Shop, which opened its doors in 1999, was the driving force behind the graffiti scene in the city, alongside Nonstop Magazine. The shop offered the best materials, and the Layup Shop's organization ensured that all writers were consistently well-equipped.
A sort of "Writers Corner" emerged within the Reitschule cultural center. The painted trains could be seen on the railroad bridge above the forecourt, while the bridge piers below were designated for legal painting.
Over the following years, the Bern graffiti scene experienced significant growth. Graffiti writers from across Europe flocked to the city, and these connections led to opportunities to visit writers in their respective cities. On Interrail trips to Bratislava, Budapest, Bucharest, Amsterdam, London, Liege, Brussels, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Milan or Berlin i made new acquaintances.
These experiences and stories spanning from 1989 to 2006 are documented in the book Still Alive - Wearing Sunglasses at Night - Diary of a Graffiti Writer published by Nonstop Publishing in 2020.
In 2006, I relocated to Zurich, where I delved into the realm of graphic design and web development. My primary focus was creating websites, primarily using WordPress, catering to musicians and artists hailing from Switzerland. During this period, the online landscape was dominated by blogs, between 2006 and 2008, well before Facebook's meteoric rise and the proliferation of free web hosting services.
Simultaneously, I found myself engaged in crafting graphics and posters for Reggae and Dancehall events in Zurich. This involvement also paved the way for my collaboration with City Groove Production, an event management company based in Zurich. As my responsibilities expanded, I transitioned from graphic and web design to organizing events, immersing myself further in the world beyond the screen.
In 2010, I left Switzerland and moved to Ethiopia. I settled in Addis Ababa, the capital of this vast nation in the Horn of Africa. There, I had the opportunity to introduce my art to the public as a mural artist and reggae DJ. I also designed stickers and T-shirts for the Rastafarian community which were available in stores in Addis Ababa and Shashamane.
Through valuable connections, I later participated in the production of a hip-hop TV show. With the program Yo! Ethio Raps, I was able to share my passion for 80s and 90s hip-hop and graffiti with the Ethiopian audience.
In 2018, I left Addis Ababa to return to Switzerland.
Back in Switzerland, I was able to focus again on walls and classic graffiti. In comparison to Ethiopia, where unfortunately only low-quality spray cans were available, it delighted me even more to work with these high-quality spray cans.
Initially, I had the opportunity to create several larger murals in the Attisholz-Areal in Solothurn, at Fantasy Basel, in the Reitschule in Bern and the Schützenmatte in Bern.
In 2019, I began the production of the book Still Alive - Wearing Sunglasses at Night - Diary of a Graffiti Writer, which was completed and published in 2020.
In 2020, I had the chance to create a 3D graffiti with metal and polystyrene for the Layup Shop in Bern. Shortly after, I started designing illustrations for the shop, and in the summer of 2020, I was employed by Layup and began my training as an Interactive Media Designer, a program I successfully completed in the summer of 2024.
Since 2020, I've had the opportunity to participate in several solo exhibitions and group shows, primarily at Kolly Gallery in Zurich, providing a platform for showcasing my art.
In winter 2023, I began creating New York Subway Maps adorned with hip-hop musicians from New York. During the summer, I showcased these maps in the group exhibition 50 Years of Hip Hop at the Kolly Gallery in Zurich. Following the exhibition, I published the book Hip Hop 50: New York Hip-Hop Musicians Featured on 50 New York City Subway Maps - Painted by Still Alive.
The New York City Subway Maps were showcased as part of the record store installation at the 'Street Echos' exhibition in Shanghai, presented by the Museum of Graffiti in fall 2024.