This Short Documentary Tells the Stories of Middle-Aged Graffiti Writers

Being a graffiti writer takes a lot of guts. And an incredible amount of passion.

For many street artists from the 1970s and ‘80s, it’s the kind of passion that’s hard to abandon, so a good number of them have continued tagging the streets well into their middle ages.

This is the topic of a new mini documentary presented by the Associated Press, which tells the stories of renowned NYC graffiti writers LA Roc and Zephyr, who are now 45 and 51 years old, respectively.

The two men talk about their start in the scene, which occurred over three decades ago, and how age has presented a whole new wave of concerns when engaging in this type of art. For Zephyr, his biggest worry involves his 6-year-old daughter Lulu, who he is raising on his own.

“I'm ready. I could go tonight,” he says in the five-minute video. “But I have to be pragmatic and look at the benefits if I go tonight and the risks. And because of my daughter that wouldn't be the responsible thing to do because she needs her father and in jail I'm not much use as a father.”

LA Roc seems to be a bit more carefree. Though he did take a 14-year hiatus following the death of his girlfriend, he now takes every opportunity to scribble his tag on the streets. And he’s been arrested a handful of times because of it.

“I had these young cops when I got arrested—you know, these cops were like 21, 22 years old, and they were like, ‘Aren’t you kind of old to be doing graffiti?’ […] You’re never too old to paint. Even now, you know, I would go right now and go and paint on the walls. What is old for an artist? We just can’t do it the way we used to do it back in the day.”

You can check out the full mini documentary above.