I’ve been drawn to mark making for as long as I can remember. Drawing and painting were regular pastimes as a kid, but in the mid-90s I started noticing Melbourne’s graffiti scene. Riding my bike through the Gardenvale drains after school, through what felt like kilometres of colourful pieces, I became fascinated by the mysterious underground world of style writing.

Once the graffiti bug got me, it became an education in itself. Learning the history, understanding style and eventually developing my own visual language became the goal. I travelled Melbourne’s train network looking at how graffiti changed from one part of the city to another, meeting writers from across Melbourne and eventually around the world. As I travelled more, the influences widened beyond graffiti. Galleries, temples, ancient structures, street art and music festivals all found their way into the work. I tend to absorb visual details wherever I go, then pull them apart and rework them into something that fits my own style.

The way I worked changed too. In 2017, after becoming sick from years of exposure to spray paint fumes, I developed the Multiroller technique while painting in Bali. It gave me a faster, more physical and expressive way to make marks and became another major part of my visual language. Since then, I’ve self-published a book about Melbourne graffiti, opened an art gallery, taken up tattooing and continued developing my studio practice. Each of those experiences has added something new to the work.