What is “tubby graffiti”?

If you found this page, you may have searched for ‘tubby graffiti ‘tubby1 graffiti’, and wondered about my tag or sticker. I created this page to show up on Google so there is less misinformation about me, and write more about the purpose of my tag.

I am a graffiti writer/urban explorer from Sydney, Australia. I primarily enjoy painting in ‘hidden spots’, like drainage tunnels and under bridges.

I got arrested several times within the span of a year or 2 for various charges of vandalism and trespassing. The last time I got arrested in Australia for vandalism, I was sentenced to do community service and I really didn’t feel like doing much more graffiti in Sydney, because I kept getting caught.

But as it turns out, I am extremely thankful for the day I was arrested, because that day changed the course of my life forever.

My friend invited me to travel overseas with him, and I ended up travelling some of Asia and Europe with him. I didn’t paint graffiti on these first trips or go anywhere off the beaten path, I just put up stickers and just enjoyed living happy and free, and doing as regular people do in their early twenties.

Later on another friend invited me to travel to India. This was my first time travelling to a ‘non-touristy’ place, and the catalyst for what made me want to drop everything and see the world as so much happened in just a couple weeks, and it ended up with us forgoing our flight to the party destination of Goa and instead going hiking in the Himalayas for 5 days and living among gypsies.

While it was great fun, I also saw huge amounts of poverty and visited the slums. This is really the first time I really saw things like that first hand.

When I returned to Australia, I realized that normal life would never quite feel the same. After getting restless, I ended up selling my car, getting rid of most of my belongings, packing what I needed into a duffel bag and setting off to see the world and write graffiti.

It started off as just fun and games. Backpacking through Asia and Europe, staying in hostels, meeting other travellers, while also writing graffiti and just enjoying life.

As I travelled more, I started seeing more and more in the way of poverty, crime, economic disparity, etc…

When you are painting graffiti in a country which doesn’t really have a graffiti scene, it often strikes up conversations or even altercations.

I would always talk to people and they would always ask me ‘what is the purpose of the graffiti.’ I didn’t really have an answer, I just said it was a fat, happy character.

I would eventually start painting countries which are advised as ‘do not travel’ places, and painting graffiti in these countries would start getting increasingly dangerous, and I would see the effects of war, meet refugees, meet many people just trying to survive in atrocious living conditions.

It would begin to feel distasteful, me just being a tourist, going to these places of extreme poverty with terrible living conditions to write graffiti for a couple days and move on to the next place.

Sitting at 170 countries at last count, I hope to one day reach the goal of ‘visiting every country in the world’.

I have analysed the list and possibility of visiting every country in the world, and a lot of what I have left to visit are countries which are considered dangerous/in war/very bad political situations, as well as difficult visas.

I am currently writing a book about the complex social-economic and geopolitical issues which face our world.

My graffiti doesn’t really benefit anyone, and is relatively pointless. All my stickers and tags will fade or get painted over, and in a while it will be as if I was never there.

If there is one thing I wish to leave behind, I wish to write and spread awareness about the world issues I have seen first hand. I want to share my views and write about the good and bad I have seen. Unless you see the bad, you can’t really appreciate the good.

I’m from Sydney, Australia, a place which consistently ranks as one of the best places to live in the world. I have a passport which allows me to travel to most countries without difficult visas/invitation letters. I come from a place of privilege which allows me to travel with ease.

No one chooses where they were born and I don’t want to waste the advantage I was born with, so I will endeavour to write a book and tell the stories of what I’ve experienced and the things I’ve seen.