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Trust Your Struggle Collective Tag

Throwback- Mural at La Peña (Berkeley, Ca)

Besides working in Kidlit and illustration I also worked in public art and murals for many years and I bring skills, ethic, and politics from that with me wherever I go. For this, we were brought in to paint a mural called “El Relevo” to symbolize the handing of the baton from the older Chilean founders of this cultural hub and organizing outpost to the next generation. The hand off was not so smooth in reality, but I remember loving working on this. I had just moved back to Oakland after living in Brooklyn for a few years. This video was shot by Miguel Bounce Perez.

Dig this? Check out this direct action in front of “Black Rock” who are one of the private equity companies bankrolling bombs being dropped in Palestine.

October 16, 2024
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Direct Action @ BlackRock for Palestine

video by Arthur Koch

This was dope af to contribute to this action. Saw homies who I hadn’t seen a long time and met some new friends. @donoharmcoalition rallied artists , healthcare workers, parents, kids, elders, and more to make a bold statement but shutting down this block in front of the wealthiest investment firm in Frisco who funds Israel’s crimes. The message was clear-stop funding this genocidal settler colony! Stop bombing hospitals! Shout out to my sis @nancypili for getting me the call and shout out to my sis @cececarpio for rocking w/me and all the volunteers who came and painted this hella fast. #freepalestine ❤️ Ceasfire! End the occupation now!

To join the call for an immediate ceasefire, CLICK HERE

For more info about “Do No Harm” follow them here

Dig this? Check out this link to download free non commercial use artwork in support of Palestine

Video by Arthur Koch. To join the call for Ceasefire: LINK

December 11, 2023
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TYS Panel w/ Letterform Archive

Ey, myself, Nisha Sethi, and Miguel Bounce Perez will be speaking about Graff, lettering, and answering questions about it with the Letterform Archive Thursday Septermber 7th from 12-1:30pm. Tune in online, its FREE.

Link to register

This talk is connected to a much larger show at the Letterform Archive called “Subscription to Mischief” about the culture of Graffiti zines. The show is up until October 5th!

Dig this? Here’s a video from a show we did in 2015 called “Of Love & Riots 2”

September 7, 2023
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Who I’ve run with-Crews/Families

Hey y’all, this is an appreciation post about some of the folks I’ve run with, worked with, and learned from. Some of these folks I’ve known since I was a kid, some I met in college or as an adult. All of them have given me a tremendous amount of love, support, ideas, game, and support and I’m happy to work with them.

Top to bottom, left to right: 

1. Trust Your Struggle Collective– (Bay Area, NYC, int’l) Crew of Graffiti writers, educators, muralists, organizers, etc who create large scale murals, gallery exhibitions, and educational workshops. Founded in 2003! I’m a proud co-founder of this crew. Learn more here.

2. Social Justice Children’s Book Holiday Fair– (Bay Area) This is a kids book fair founded by authors, illustrators, teachers, organizers, and book lovers in 2017. This fair champions books featuring People of color, queer folks, and social justice minded creators to serve our community. See some photos from past events here.

3. Tone/ Umber: (Bay Area) Both magazines were founded by an incredible designer, artist, and father Mike Nicholls who has been going since 2016 I believe with Umber magazine. A journal to celebrate Black and Brown stories relating to manhood, sports, music, lifestyle, and more. I was briefly a part of Tone , a magazine dedicated to Black men which is currently dormant, but you can see Umber here.

4. Rad Dad Magazine– (Bay Area) Founded by Tomas Moniz in 2005. Rad Dad was a zine and magazine dedicated to helping fathers of all stripes share their experiences, triumphs, and challenges as dads. Read more here.

5. Muphoric Sounds– (NYC/London) Founded by Vanessa Warren in 2008 MS functioned as a booming part of the music blog landscape. We wrote about new and old music primarily focused on Soul, Hip Hop, Jazz, Funk, Electronic, and House. Read some of the pieces here.

6. The Bull Horn Blog/ M is for Movement– (Boston/Bay Area). This is a blog founded by Innosanto Nagara, Alison Goldberg, and Janine Macbeth that highlighted children’s books from multiple age groups featuring stories by people of color and social justice minded creators. Read posts here.

Dig this? Check out my interview with Avy Jetter of Oakland Creates

January 31, 2023
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My mural in a book! – Painting the Streets

 

Check out some images from the new “Painting The Streets” book I’m in alongside many of my Trust Your Struggle Collective family and so many more Bay Area artists. Get a copy here.

Here is my first post about that mural as well.

The good folks over at the East Side Arts Alliance and Nomadic Press got together to make this book of all the artwork created in the summer of 2020 in response to the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Amhaud Arbery, and so many other victims of Police Terrorism in the United States.

Walls by Cece Carpio, Miguel Bounce Perez & Thitiwat Phromratanapongse, Nisha K Sethi, Priya Handa, and Robert Liu-Trujillo. That summer Cece, Nisha, Migs, Thi, and Rob hit the street to paint walls in frustration, solidarity, and creativity as the crew has done so many times in the past 19 years. We’re honored to be featured in this book by Nomadic and East Side.

The book features both artwork, essays, and poetry by artists and writers such as Alicia Garza, The Black Cultural Zone, Greg Morozumi, Leslie Lopez, Robin D.G. Kelley, The Bay Area Mural Program, Rachel Wolfe-Goldsmith, Kufue, Keena Romano, Timothy B, Zoë Boston, Maisha Quint. DonJuan Carter-Woodard, Amiri Baraka, The Illuminaries, Inbal “Bali” Rubin, Dime, Chris Granillo, Pancho Pescador, Oree Originol, Shi Shi, TDK Crew, DeVante Brooks, and words from JK Fowler of Nomadic Press and Elena Serrano of East Side Arts Alliance!

Dig this? Check out this video where I talk about some of my favorite art books

January 26, 2023
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Winter Playlist -by TYS Collective

 

It’s that time of the season again, a new playlist from the TYS Collective. Feliz año nuevo to you all. Here’s a playlist from the Trust Your Struggle Collective (Hip hop, funk, Reggae, Jazz, Rock, and more). 
To listen go here: LINK
While you’re there check out a post about some of the people we lost over the past year. if you’re not following my crew on IG, here’s the link. You might get some exclusives from the TYS Newsletter though….

January 4, 2022
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Podcast interview: w/NOT REAL ART

 

Whats up fam, I got a chance to be a guest on the “Not Real Art” podcast w/ my TYS sister Erin Yoshi. I wish I could embed it directly here, but please check out this LINK to listen. 
This show was recorded last month and I talk a bit about kids books, illustration, of course the “Art of Rob” campaign on kickstarter, and our crew “Trust Your Struggle”. If you’re not up on this podcast please give them a listen, Man One and Sourdough have been doing it for a minute and they just brought Erin Yoshi on as an official co-host. Here are some of the folks she’s interviewed that I admire!
If you would like to hear or see more media features please check out my press page here.
November 23, 2021
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Summer Playlist by TYS Collective

 

Hey, my crew the Trust Your Struggle Collective dropped a playlist of music last month. Some new and old on there. If you’re into music, give it a listen here.
If you missed it, I have a quarterly blog post about music I am listening to, the last one was about House music

August 9, 2021
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Dead Prez x Sault remix – Pele Durian Funk

 

Dead Prez classic remixed by DJ/Producer Pele Durian Funk w/ this new vibe UK band Sault is creating w/their focus on music. If the video gets taken down please go to Pele’s bandcamp to listen to a whole EP of remixes featuring different artists such as Mos Def, Erykah Badu, Bambu, and more all w/ flips of Sault. 
And please support Dead Prez and Sault by streaming and purchasing their music. 
Exclaimer, the remix is a vital part of not only hip hop culture, but of music and culture in general. Here’s a link of some other music I’ve been listening to a lot lately. HOUSE.

July 3, 2021
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