I thought senseslost.com did a really great interview with graffiti legend Make One. Make spends some time talking about the roles of women in graffiti art and their contributions to the scene.

SL: Throughout the history of this culture women have played a pivotal part in sustaining graffiti and yet they still are not receiving the proper respect/coverage deserved. Despite the fact that so many articles are being written about women artists, I feel they are getting slighted.
With that being said, what is your feeling on female representation within the culture? Are they getting fair treatment?

MAKE: I am glad you ask. Unfortunately women in any culture or genre, has had either the need or felt the need to work harder at what ever it is they do, whether it is graff, skating, snowboarding, music etc. Women always seem to have to push the envelope harder in order to prove they are as good or as “down” as any other guy doing whatever it is they’re doing.

For approximately a hundred years, women have been fighting for the same rights or respect as men. There is no difference in the graff game. Women writers still get frowned upon by some male writers. Men discredit them immediately upon knowing that a dope writer or artist is a woman. You’ll hear comments such as: “oh she is good for a girl” or “wow, doesn’t even look like a girl did that” and I am like “what you mean it doesn’t look like a girl did it? How can you tell whether it is a girl or not?” (laughs) I find it funny and absurd at times. Styles of graff or any art have never been gender specific, but rather talent specific. Some graff writers/artists don’t realize that by saying the above comments, they are making our culture the same as the corporate one. In art there are such things as freedom of speech and expression and to limit our female artists or even suggest there is a difference because of gender, is like finding the least common denominator for a whole number! There is no need to further divide a culture that has worked so hard to evolve and grow with the times, with stagnant thoughts.

SL: Ok, now going a bit further with the topic of female writers: who are some of the ladies in L.A. that truly representing this culture properly?

MAKE: There are quite of few I can mention. Some of these writers are more down or even doper than some of the male writers I have seen. Shoot, I can say, some of these ladies are even fresher and more down than me (hahaha).

But for LA, women who are dope to me, are down and put in work are: Perl-FDS, Envy-FDS, Opea-FDS, Timoi, Muck, Summer, Sherm-COI, Jeyd, SandOne has been putting in some mad work lately. I also like Jel’s work too. She is perhaps one of the most all-around woman writers I have seen. Style, flow, can control, bombs, tags, characters, legals, illegals etc…she can handle all.

Of course there are others not from LA I respect too such as: Vik from NY, EGR from Canada, MadC from Germany, News, Tiza, Natsue, SheBasic from Mexico, Volr, Shiro, & Belx from Japan…just to name a few. There is mad talent out there and they need to get the shine they deserve.

-Matthew J at senseslost.com

You can read the entire article here at SensesLost.com