International Women’s Day 2026: Women in graffiti – Ōtautahi Christchurch

Claire Rye with collaborating artists:
Ms Yellow, Faux, Snaps, Thorn, Temu, Spice, Meep, Sekr, Poise, Fluro, Kons and Nels

Creative arts therapist statement

This project is a celebration of the wāhine in graffiti. In this case ‘graffiti’ refers to stylised lettering painted in spray paint. I have been involved in graffiti art for 30 years and I wanted to mark the significance of this and to acknowledge the part it has played in my more recent career as a creative arts therapist. Hispanic graffiti artist William Carrero in his professional master’s degree at the Pratt Institute, similarly links graffiti with art therapy and his thesis is “written for any graffiti writer or graffiti appreciator who wants to follow a creative arts therapy career path” (2024, p.4).

Marking this 30th anniversary, this International Women’s Day (IWD) felt like an appropriate opportunity to organise a meet-up with my graffiti collective crew (Ms Yellow, Faux, Snaps, Thorn, Temu, Spice, Meep, Sekr, Poise, Fluro, Kons and Nels) to collaboratively paint a mural. This project was not sponsored. Instead we decided to self-fund it for the joy of collectively painting as an intergenerational community.

Women’s graffiti jams are beneficial as they can provide a fun, safe, supportive space for female writers to grow and connect.

When our bodies and stories are not socially, politically and legally entitled to take up (as much) space as others, staying and existing in spaces, moving across boundaries and borders, being heard and visible, or remaining undetected, are acts of resistance. (Smith et al, 2020, p.4)

Graffiti and the use of graffiti personas can allow women to challenge gender norms and take up public space (Pabón-Colón, 2018), which can be empowering, once the nerves subside. In addition, this IWD event gave the women in attendance a chance to meet, build relationships in person, and grow in collective identity.

Thirteen wāhine painted together. We came from Australia, different parts of Aotearoa and Ms Yellow, travelled from the USA. Artists such as Spice from Sydney and Poise from Perth, who have been painting since the 1980s (at the start of modern graffiti in the Southern Hemisphere), painted alongside artists like Temu from Ōtautahi, who is 17 years old.

Collectively, we decided on a theme of “Roller Derby Girls” during our online planning sessions. This was an apt theme because they are a similar scene to graffiti women, in that we have a rebellious identity and a DIY mindset, driven by a proactive creative spirit.

Through our collaborative process we chose a shared colour palette of pinks and blues. Each artist was free to use those colours as they chose. The wall was found for us by local graffiti artist Meep, who is part of the Flare Street Art Festival team. We created a grid design for the wall so that each woman got an equal space. Those with mobility issues were given ground level spaces with easier access. The rest of the artists used a mobile scaffold, ladders, or a scissor lift to gain access to the higher levels.

The resulting work is a vibrant three-layer mural, visible to the local community of school children, parents and local workers.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by for a kōrero and words of encouragement.

References

Carrero, W. (2024). Graffiti [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Pratt Institute. https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/graffiti/docview/3072480740/se-2

Pabón-Colón, J.N. (2018). Graffitti Grrlz: Performing feminism in the hip hop diaspora. New York University Press.

Smith, K., McMahonb, G. & Davidson, A. (2020). Creating feminist spaces: Occupying hostile environments. Feminist Media Studies, 20(8), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2020.1786935