Adventure

Reflecting on my urge to explore and travel.

I guess exploring has always been my hobby alongside art, for as far back as I can remember. I wonder if I inherit it from my Great Grandad Gilly and Great Aunty Molly. They travelled the world with the navy in WW2. Gilly lived in various places, similar to me. Ireland, Runcorn, Stoke. Aunty Molly continued to travel to places like The States, to see old friends when she retired from the navy.

As a kid, I always had the urge to explore my environment. Obviously, when you’re really young you can’t go far, but I was lucky enough to live on the edge of the estate, facing a big patch of wasteland we fittingly named “the wasteland”.

As it was in sight of our house, my mum would let me play over there with my mates from super young, maybe seven or eight years old. It was where a lot of my oldest friendships were formed. Many lads the same age as me, who I didn’t know from primary school (we would later be united in middle school), lived within equally close proximity of the wasteland and also wanted to play on it and explore.

We formed a tight little crew, and that became our everyday after school and our entire six-week summer holidays. We would play army and build dens, but a goal of mine was to see all of the wasteland and make sure I knew it well. I became obsessed with the different landmarks: the oak tree, the big tree with red berries, the different routes down hills, and the hard-to-get-to, bramble-infested nooks and crannies of the land. The land is split into two levels: the road level and then a big steep hill down to the lower level. Standing at the top of the hill, you can see the entire lower level and all the hard-to-reach spots that I wanted to conquer.

The motivation was literally just to see what those places were like because I’d never been up close to them due to enormous bramble bushes, steep treacherous hills, or combinations of the two. I was driven by curiosity, and I felt I had to know my wasteland and discover new places to build bases, chill or hide.

This carried on as I got older and progressed into exploring the entire estate: every alley, every shortcut, every park, every sneaky out-of-the-way spot to chill with your mates and get off the beaten path. This also led us to large woods and reservoirs on the edge of the town, which was a huge playground for us for a good few years too.

This exploration began my interest in graffiti, and I started leaving my mark everywhere I went — around the estate at first, then later along the route we’d cycle into the city, then the city itself.

As I got to high school, the city fascinated me more and more, and that became the next level of my exploring hobby. I would convince a mate or two to catch the bus to the city centre with me after school, with a few tins of paint, markers, and my camera.

We began by following the canal network around the centre, checking out all the graffiti and trying our hand at our own. Many abandoned, graffiti-covered factories lined the canal, and we explored these thoroughly. The canal was a great vehicle to start city-wide exploration, as it weaves through lots of towns and gives you a route to stick to, ferrying you through graffiti-plastered areas.

The idea of exploring the entire city and all of its towns, canals, abandoned railways, and so on became an obsession. A big part of graffiti for me was just to know my city properly and understand the layout. I think it also links back to another childhood obsession I had, which was drawing maps of countries copied from the atlas. With graffiti, I love looking at maps of the city and Google Maps, planning strategically where to go and where to paint.

Eventually, other cities came onto my horizon and the game just got bigger and bigger. You then want to know your county and your country. I have travelled the UK a fair bit now and got into trying to leave a mark, in every city I went to — as many cities as possible.

Today, my exploring has morphed into an obsession with travelling internationally. I think this was actually sparked by my first trip abroad, a school trip to Berlin in year 8. The vibe of a massive european city, so much graff, riding the subway and especially seeing Kripoe pieces and his fist symbols was mind blowing. I hadn't even been to London yet and I was seeing Berlin! it was an eye opener for sure.

The ultimate goal for me now is to see the entire world: every continent, every country at least, every major city or interesting region if possible. Ideally, to paint something, however small, in all of them too. It’s almost like a tick-box thing, but I find it so fulfilling and love looking back on the fond memories. Even if the trip was stressful or tiring at the time, it’s all worth it. I worked out that if I visit five new countries every year — which is doable with my lifestyle, and pretty much what I do at the moment — I could see all 195 - the 21 I’ve been already = 174 countries by the time I’m 61, give or take a few that you may not be safely able to travel to. Even then, of course, it’s still not enough, because you want to see so many different cities and regions of the bigger countries, and you want to revisit some that you like.

I’m trying to figure out a sustainable travelling lifestyle so I can ensure I see it all properly, whilst still building my career. The ultimate dream is to do murals and gallery shows around the world, and just explore freely in the quiet months — striking a balance between having a purpose to travel, but being free and still wandering for the sake of curiosity. That would be the perfect way to explore this world.