Hello My Name Is: Mabel

Name: Mabel
City/Country: são paulo, Brasil
When did you start writing? End of 2014

What’s graffiti for you?
A very meaningful part, a lifestyle, a door to eternal possibilities.

Influences?
God, friends.

Tell us about your city, how is life and graffiti there?
São Paulo is the fourth most populated city in the world. Consisted by its huge buildings, traffic, chaos and many people hungry for freedom of expression. São Paulo has a collection of great artists, known as the capital of graffiti in Brasil. Combined by a lot of graffiti, São Paulo is highlighted by pixation. The scenary is very crowded, there are a lot of people willing to express themselves.

What keeps you still writing?
A hungry for evolving, knowing people, traveling, painting different platforms, to know other cultures, and as graffiti interacts in people’s lives anywhere in the world, I use it as a tool to communicate myself with people, and to talk about what I believe in.

What first made you interested in graffiti and how did you end up on that track?
I studied in a suburbs school, where there where many crews of pixers, and that somehow, was one of my first contacts. I have Always had contact with art in my home, my mother was always drawing and that somehow caught my attention. When my father passed away I broke up a relationship and decided to start painting as a way of distraction, I bought some spray cans and invited some friends to come with me. After that day, I realized that thing would make me feel alive, and it was as a therapy for me.

What trends are you seeing now in the graffiti world that you don’t like?
There isn’t any trend that I dislike. Graffiti is free and I believe that each one is adapted in such a way that suits you.

What do you do when you’re not painting?
I have a job, I use to study and to go to church every time I am in my free time. I am always with my Family and friends. This is very important for me.

How would you describe your style?
I believe that I am in this search still, I can’t define anything for now. Just that graffiti for me is totally free, there is no definition. I always like to try new colors, different letters, new characters, I believe it is an endless evolution.

Can you remember the first piece you did?
Disappointed with myself, it was really frustrating. Lol.

Future plans?
Yes, I want to go back to Europe and paint some other places in America, get to know more writers and understand the scene and the system of each side.

Do you adapt your pieces and tags to the spot/surface?
Yes, each place is a challenge.

What do you think about the new generation of writers in your city?
I believe that I make part of this new generation, but always excited to see new people painting, specially women.

What are the best and worst aspects of graffiti?
People who I have the opportunity to meet and share what I believe motivate me. Graffiti has taken me to places I have never imagined to go. Meet people around the world that I would never meet if it wasn’t by the graffiti. People I admired and I had the opportunity to paint and they received in their houses and treated me as a member of the Family. People with distinct universes to share something so intimate and ephemeral that is what we paint. The negative side is that graffiti is moved by ego, and that attracts people with bad intentions and that makes you to be always alert to approximations.

Who do you paint for?
For me, for the others, graffiti can change somebody’s day, be it for whom sees it or for whom paints.

What writers have inspired you?
My friends from graffiti, people who are my companions are my greatest source of inspiration.

Can you ever feel tired of graffiti?
Tired of people. But never from graffiti.

What do you hope people will think and feel when they see your stuff?
I hope people remember who I am and the whys I do that. And what made me to write and that I can motivate them to do what they believe so that is possible to change somebody’s life. Graffiti is a tool that can change people’s life, art can change people’s life.

FIVE FAVORITES
Spray Paint: Montana Black/Loop Colors
City: Barcelona
Markers/pens: Krink
Surface: Metro/trains
Cap: NY, fat, needle

Instagram: maabeelm