Interview: A Graffiti Artist on Visual Art and Rap

On a warm afternoon in Melbourne, the laneways carry several conversations at once: spray paint underfoot, bass from a passing car, buskers near the tram stops and handwritten flyers layered across old brick. Graffiti and rap share that same urban energy. Both turn public space into a message, then invite strangers to decide what the message means.

For this interview, we spoke with Mara Vale, a fictional multidisciplinary graffiti artist and muralist whose work moves between painted walls, album artwork and live visual sets. Based between Melbourne and Sydney, she describes her process as “writing with colour before the microphone even starts.”

Her perspective offers a useful way to understand the relationship between street art and hip hop. A tag can carry rhythm, a beat can suggest movement, and a verse can make a mural feel like part of a much larger map of memory, identity and resistance.

Where The Wall Meets The Beat

Tha Hop: When did you first recognise a connection between graffiti and rap?

Mara Vale: I noticed it before I could explain it. A rap verse has cadence, repetition and punctuation. A piece of graffiti works in a similar way. The outline is the structure, the fill is the voice, and the highlights are like ad-libs. You can often feel whether a work is tense, playful or confrontational before you read the letters.

The connection also comes from shared conditions. Both forms developed through limited resources, public visibility and a desire to be heard without waiting for formal approval. A rapper may release a track from a bedroom, while a writer may practise on discarded boards or legal walls. The tools differ, but the instinct is similar: take available space and make it speak.

Tha Hop: Does a beat influence the way you paint?

Mara Vale: Absolutely. I often sketch while listening to a loop. Fast hi-hats push my lines towards sharper angles. A slower bass pattern gives me room for wide curves and heavy shadows. I have also been learning more about production techniques through guides such as sidechain compression explained, because understanding how sound breathes helps me think about visual rhythm.

Reading A City In Colour

Tha Hop: How does an Australian setting change your work?

Mara Vale: Australia has a strange visual mix. Melbourne has the laneways and a strong mural culture, but it also has strict rules around public space. Sydney brings harbour light, dense apartment blocks and a different relationship with movement. Brisbane has intense sunlight and wide suburban distances, which can make colour feel louder. I am always responding to those conditions rather than pretending a wall exists in isolation.

The local market matters too. Australian artists often move between small gallery shows, music events, commissioned murals and independent merchandise. A piece may be photographed for Instagram in Fitzroy, printed on a shirt in Marrickville, then seen again at a festival in Adelaide. That circulation is exciting, although artists still need to think carefully about payment, licensing and who owns the image after a collaboration.

Tha Hop: What do people misunderstand about graffiti?

Mara Vale: They sometimes reduce it to either vandalism or decoration. There is a much wider spectrum. A quick tag, a legal production, a paste-up, a commissioned mural and an album cover can all come from related visual languages, yet each carries different intentions and responsibilities. The history matters, including the influence of First Nations storytelling and the need to avoid borrowing Indigenous symbols without permission or understanding.

For anyone exploring the scene, maps can reveal how art, venues and neighbourhoods connect. A useful starting point is Tha Hop’s venue maps, especially when planning a night that moves from a gallery or legal wall to a club show.

Building A Track From A Tag

Tha Hop: How do you approach artwork for a rapper?

Mara Vale: I begin with the artist’s tone rather than their preferred colours. Some rappers want menace, some want humour and some want a visual world that feels cinematic. I ask about the stories behind the record, the places mentioned in the lyrics and the people who will see the cover. Then I build a visual vocabulary: letterforms, symbols, textures and repeated shapes.

The strongest collaborations leave room for both people to change the idea. A rapper may bring a line that alters the whole composition. I might suggest removing a literal portrait and replacing it with a fragmented silhouette. The artwork should not simply illustrate a song. It should extend the song into another medium, giving listeners something to notice before they press play.

Tha Hop: Can a mural function like a music video?

Mara Vale: It can, especially when it has movement built into the composition. A diagonal letter can lead the eye like a camera pan. Repeated characters can create a sense of editing. A large background gradient can feel like atmosphere between verses. When the mural is photographed or animated for social media, it gains another life, though that also means the artist must consider how quickly the work can be copied or detached from its location.

I enjoy working with DJs and producers because they understand pacing. A blank wall might be the intro, the first burst of colour the hook, and the dense central lettering the verse. The visual result becomes a kind of score: something that can be read with the eyes but felt with the body.

Community, Commerce, And Permission

Tha Hop: How do you protect the spirit of underground art when brands become interested?

Mara Vale: By asking what the partnership actually gives back. Money matters, especially when materials, studio rent and travel are expensive. But a logo placed over a mural does not automatically make a meaningful collaboration. I want clear contracts, fair usage fees and control over where the image appears. If a design is going on packaging, a billboard or merchandise, those are different uses and should be treated that way.

Commercial imagery can also be surprisingly revealing. A recent European roulette story may seem distant from graffiti, yet it shows how visual codes travel between entertainment, advertising and digital culture. Neon, typography, motion and repetition can make almost any product feel like part of a lifestyle. Artists should understand that language before deciding whether to use it.

Tha Hop: What role do workshops and online communities play?

Mara Vale: They make the culture more generous. I learned through observation, conversations and plenty of failed sketches. Younger artists now have access to tutorials, archives and international references, but access is not the same as guidance. A resource such as creative classroom ideas can help educators introduce visual storytelling, provided lessons acknowledge the living culture behind the techniques.

In Australia, workshops often happen in youth centres, libraries, community festivals and music venues. Those settings can connect a twelve-year-old with a legal wall, a local MC or a designer who understands the professional side of the industry. The best programmes teach technique alongside consent, public responsibility, cultural respect and safe material handling.

Two Languages, One Practice

Tha Hop: What can rappers learn from graffiti artists, and what can writers learn from rappers?

Mara Vale: Rappers can learn to trust visual ambiguity. You do not have to explain every symbol or make every image instantly legible. Writers can learn from rap’s discipline around timing, collaboration and release. A strong verse knows when to leave space, and a strong piece does too. Silence, blank wall and a pause in the flow can all carry weight.

The comparison below is not a set of rules. It is a way of showing why the two practices often feel connected while remaining distinct. Their shared power comes from transformation: ordinary materials become statements, and private experience becomes something a whole crowd can recognise.

Graffiti Practice	Rap Equivalent	Shared Effect
Tag and handstyle	Flow and delivery	Establishes identity quickly
Outline and structure	Beat and bar pattern	Creates form and momentum
Colour palette	Tone and production	Shapes emotion
Large public wall	Live performance	Turns attention into participation
Hidden detail	Double meaning or ad-lib	Rewards repeat engagement
Crew collaboration	Featured artists and producers	Builds community and contrast

Mara’s final thought is simple: “The wall and the track are both invitations. They say that someone was here, had something to express and believed strangers might care. That belief is where the culture keeps renewing itself.”