A New Zealander has won an international graffiti competition in Tahiti.
Charles Williams' winning entry. Photo: Charles Williams
Auckland’s Charles Williams, who goes under the name Phat1, competed against almost 30 graffiti artists from around the world during the island's graffiti festival, which took place over the weekend.
He said the contest was over five days, with only 10 competitors left on the final day for an against-the-clock painting. They had four and a half hours to complete their own creation.
Williams said competitors earlier in the contest had to paint graffiti lettering, scenery and characters and take part in a team graffiti challenge.
For his final free-choice composition he used graffiti style characters and his theme was Tahiti's Most Dangerous, playing on the letters of the TMD artists' collective he founded. The work also featured a cartoon character Beast from X-Men and contrasts of colours.
Graffiti from day 4 of the competition. Photo: Charles Williams
He and his wife Janine describe their style as a graphic, colourful outworking of their environmental and genealogical urban Maori heritage.
They said they combined their background in graffiti and street art with their love for endemic birds, native birds and flowers.
A version of this story was first published on radionz.co.nz.
