Q: When did you start painting and why?

A: I got introduced to graffiti around 1997. My homies at that time used to bomb around the Wilmington, San Pedro area. We all were in the same circle so one of them said I should start writing too. At first, I was kind of hesitant but I just decided to try it out anyway. I remember trying to think of a name and looking in the dictionary. I finally came up with the dullest name ever which was “Space”. I tagged “Space” for like a year. I never bombed though. I just tagged on the bus or walking home from school. It was not until 1998 that I officially can say I started bombing and “Perl” was born.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My style is real legible and to the point. I mostly mess with simple letters and styles I can do quickly. I do not get too wild with my work but I am always open to messing with that aspect as well. I do love dope color combinations, but sometimes the most satisfying can be as simple as a silver and black throw up.

Q: How did you get your name and what does it mean to you?

A: The name was given to me by my homie Chue SRT around 1998. I had started meeting a bunch of new writers in different areas and I was starting (or had started) to get more serious about painting. Since I had been looking into changing my name, Chue suggested I’d write “Perl”. He helped by giving me some letters to practice and I just kept on going from then. Ironically, most ladies named “Pearl” are older, and it is typically an old-fashioned name. I do feel that I’m an old soul so I think the name fits me perfect.

Q: What have been your best and worst moments painting?

A: My best moments would be my first years of painting. Going out every night and getting three or four spots a night, coming home at 6 am and waking up a few hours later and driving around to go flick all the spots with no worries.
Worst on the list, I would say, was painting with my homies Sight and Sloe around 2006. Sloe and I were painting some tarp off Central and Manchester inSouth Central. Sight was our look-out that night. Everything was cool and we were almost done when we heard some gun shots like a few feet away from us. We could not see anybody but we booked it over the fence and ran to my car. As we rushed off to look for Sight, Sloe started touching his head and felt it was bleeding, he had gotten hit in the head! Shit was scary but we needed to call an ambulance! We found Sight and we headed down the street and called 911. They came and looked him over and took him to the hospital. After that we were stuck having to explain what happened with paint in our possession. The cops kind of made us feel like we were the criminals even though at that moment we were victims. Lucky for Sloe, he had gotten shot in the head with bird shots which are typically used to kill birds.
Could it have killed him? Maybe. But we were just lucky it that it was not real bullets or else it would have been a tragic ending.

Q: What are your favorite graff tools to use?

A: I do not have a specific brand of paint that is a favorite but as long if its not watery I will use it . Before Home Depot went retard with the female tips it was always American Accent, Painters Touch and Rustos.  The Wal-Mart silvers were amazing as well. I love NY Fats and Rusto tips for sure and my favorite tagging tool is the classic streak in white or yellow.
Nowadays, if there is a nice legal wall I can participate on of course I will use better paint like Montanas and Ironlaks just to keep it clean.

Q: What crews have you been in?

A: I’ve maybe been in like 5 crews my entire writing career and over the years I am just down to one which is FDS “ From the Streets”. It started off as an all girl graffiti crew in 2001 with members such as: Suny, Envy, Krys, Secret, and Opea. We wanted to keep it an all girl crew and represent. We all bombed so it was perfect. As time went by it was harder and harder to find girls who were not only down to bomb but also cool; and that weren’t already in a crew. So we made the decision to make it a co-ed crew around 2006 and Swoe and Yikes got down with the crew. Another reason was, in order for a crew to keep on pushing and have longevity there has to be a newer generation to keep it alive. Our crew is small but growing; we are all close; we also just recently welcomed our ninth member Kween into FDS so the future is looking bright.

Q: How do you think the web and commercialism have affected graffiti art today?

A: I really do see the affects the web has had on graffiti today. First of all, too many people have gotten burned on websites by revealing identities with videos and photos. All those graffiti forums, where people be gossiping and talking shit are ridicules too. It is just all drama and politics. It also seems like nobody has to really drive around and actually run into people’s spots anymore because you can just look it up easily online. It takes the thrill away from seeing people’s work live.
As far as commercialism, in a sense it is okay to have people accept graffiti more but it loses that grimy street quality that graffiti is really about.

Q: How do you think your role as a female artist has impacted this predominately male-dominated culture?

A: My experiences as a female graffiti artist have both been good and bad.
As a female writer, it sucks having to prove that you’re real and not just some dumb groupie. When I first started, I felt like I had to prove myself even more because it is such a male dominated culture and I wanted the same respect.
It was difficult for me when I first started because guys would hate on me for painting. They would talk shit for no reason or just be jealous. At that time I felt all bad and shit like that got to me, but after a while I stopped caring about what people said and kept painting. I soon realized most people who seemed to talk shit faded out quick.
I say my role as a female artist may have, to some extent, made some people realize that female or male we can both do some shit whether you bomb a crazy spot or rock a dope ass legal wall. There are some real talented women in this game and over the years, many have demonstrated that. Even though we are still outnumbered, we are still more accepted than we were before.

Shout-Outs:

FDS Crew, Rulez, SMC, Hide, Doña Junta, Free Sight, Charmski, Make, Hael, Slanguage, OTR, AL, LCF, Noser, Havok, Jerk, Davr, Nels, Vanessa, Pancho, Tere, Tueler, Ekore, Trees, Chue, 777, Swapmeets, L.A.E.S, and all the rest of y’all I forgot to many to mention.