ONO’U Tahiti 2017: “Personal Genesis” ONO’U 2017 Conférence, Dispatch 6

“Personal Genesis’ ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Panel discussion. Tahiti, October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ONO’U 2017 Conférence

BSA was proud to host the first ONO’U Conference on Thursday night to bring alive a somewhat academic experience to the festival for a curious crowd of 175 in the showroom of a local car dealership. The theme of “Personal Genesis” invited our 7 panelists to talk about their unique entryway into the graffiti and Street Art scene, and we were treated to genesis stories, images, and video about all of them.

“Personal Genesis’ From left to right: Steven P. Harrington, Martha Cooper, Inkie, Soten, Marko93, Charles Williams, Kalouf and Selina Miles. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Panel discussion. Tahiti, October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With Steven P. Harrington, BSA Editor-in-Chief running the panel, we heard from American photographer and documentarian Martha Cooper, Australian film maker Selina Miles, French graffiti writer/ light writer Marko93, Dane graffiti/ fine artist SOTEN, UK graffiti/Street Artist/ illustrator Inkie, Maori graffiti writer/naturist muralist Phat1, and French graffiti writer/ hyperrealist naturalist Kalouf.

With each panelist asked to speak about their start in the graffiti/Street Art/ Urban Art world, guests were treated to stories of discovery and aspirational routes to success that took many directions. Each guest narrated images and videos of their work and illustrated that no one comes to this scene from the same vantage point, yet there are many who With so many panelists it was obvious that the stories could have filled three hours easily, but we kept it to an hour and a half, with questions from the audience being particularly illuminating.

Our thanks to hosts Sarah Roopinia and Jean Ozlander at ONO’U Festival for helping translate to French and then back to English sometimes, and our thanks to all of the talented artists and documentarians who participated.

“Personal Genesis’ ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Panel discussion. Tahiti, October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Personal Genesis’ ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Panel discussion. Tahiti, October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

“Personal Genesis’ ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Panel discussion. Tahiti, October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Personal Genesis’ ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Panel discussion. Tahiti, October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

238
138
45