The urban sub-cultural graffiti lifestyle that was born from traditional New York 1970s subway graffiti, came with its own unconventional ‘arts practices’, namely tagging, bombing and pieces. The popularity of this new art movement dictated by the voice of the youth, migrated across the world. Through Pacific diaspora, graffiti eventually made it to the shores of Aotearoa in the early 1980s and has continued to play a significant role in New Zealand’s popular youth culture for nearly four decades.

For those in New Zealand that have lived the life of a graffiti artist in its true essence, a select few chose to act on an internal compass, leading them to an art journey beyond the confines of graffiti and expanding their artistic mindset through the vehicle of contemporary arts.

In light of this, Post-Graffiti Pacific (PGP) was born after numerous discussions at Onehunga’s creative hub, Studio 40, between like-minded artists who were trying to find their point of difference in the contemporary art world. The PGP movement pushed forward with Olivia Laita as curator and together, two PGP group exhibitions occurred in 2015 (aMBUSH Gallery, Sydney) and 2016/17 (TSB Wallace Arts Centre), showcasing the works of such artists.

In POST-GRAFFITI PACIFIC | 3rd Edition, Olivia has curated works from Levi Hawken, Petra Leary, Fintan Magee, Simon Wards and Zammia Weatherall with the aim of opening up constructive criticism and development on the term ‘Post-Graffiti Pacific’. “Is ‘Post’ in Post-Graffiti even correct? As many of these artists, separate from their contemporary works, still practice graffiti.”