Graffiti and its makers are used to getting a bad rap, but an exhibition at Wellington's new Dowse Gallery explores the artistic and collaborative side of street art.
And while graffiti is a well-defined culture with roots in vandalism, the art created by Auckland's Cut Collective and Germany's Via Grafik is about as far from illicit fence tagging as you can get.
"My whole philosophy is to make a space look better than what it was when I first got there," explains Cut Collective artist Hayley "Flox" King. "So it's about enhancing a space and making something beautiful that people can appreciate aesthetically."
The Common Ground exhibition is bringing graffiti culture from both sides of the globe together, highlighting the importance of team work in street art.
Leo Volland has travelled all the way from Germany to play his part in the exhibition. He has been making street art for 15 years and loves the freedom of working with a public canvas.
"You don't have to care for selling it afterwards or you don't have to care for if you like it afterwards, so you just leave it there and go home," he says. "And that offers great freedom to me."
The artists involved in Common Ground can been seen doing their thing live at Wellington's Cuba Street Carnival this Saturday.
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