Interviewing @the_m_poetry: Acknowledging Street Art Antics

Walking through the streets of York, I’ve learnt to appreciate the neatness of the city and its order oriented style. But, coming from a rowdy, not-so neat city it always feels like there’s been something missing. Over the past few weeks I’ve come to realise I miss the graffiti, I miss the hundreds of posters plastered over each other and most notably I miss seeing @the_m_poetry’s work scattered all over the city. 

@the_m_poetry is a Thessaloniki based guerrilla poet and street artist who shares their work by sticking their minimalist posters all around the city. I can’t recall the first time I saw one of their works but as soon as I noticed it I couldn’t stop searching for them in every street I walked through. I’ve often tried to put into words just exactly what their work means but I think that no one could do it better than @the_m_poetry themselves, which is exactly why this interview is conducted. So, there we were on a Friday morning, me in my attic room in York, and @the_m_poetry almost 2000 miles away in a corner of Thessaloniki, discussing the antics of their work.

KI: Firstly, I just want to ask how you were drawn to this whole concept? So, when and how did you decide this was a project you wanted to take on?

@the_m_poetry: So, I basically started by doing graffiti when I was a bit younger and I always really liked street art so I wanted to do a street art project but I didn’t know what I wanted it to be. But because I was always writing when I was younger I decided to write these short poems, which I began to write in bathrooms and I wanted to call it ‘Toilet Poetry’ and so it began like that. And then I started seeing them on instagram but at that point I wasn’t signing them underneath so it was kind of anonymous. And then after seeing my friends uploading them and telling them ‘that’s me’  they would say  ‘you need to put something to show it’s you and make an instagram.’ And then when they let us go out in covid the first time it was when I decided to do the posters and to then put them around the city centre. 

KI: So do you think that it’s also important to have an online presence as opposed to just being seen in the streets? 

@the_m_poetry: I don’t know, it depends what you’re after really. I’ve noticed when I put a post on instagram with just a note of the poetry I’ve written it gets less likes than it would if it was a photo of a poster in the city centre. 

At this point, @the_m_poetry said they had not been active on instagram for around a year and have felt a bit uninspired to be actively making new works which brought the question: well how did you first start thinking of ideas, where did they come from?

@the_m_poetry: It’s funny, they usually came to me before I used to go to sleep, or I would fixate on a word, and if I liked it then I would try to make it into a poem. But you can’t really force it, so I never used to say “ok so you need to sit down and write something,” it is just if it came to me I would write it down or put it in my notes. Whenever I used to pressure myself to write something, it would never come out. 

KI: So do you think this is why you can’t force yourself to make work now?

@the_m_poetry: Yeah I’m not forcing myself at all, if it comes to me it will, if it doesn’t then it won’t. 

KI: And why poetry in particular, why do you think this is important to share?

@the_m_poetry: I don’t know if it was important to share as poetry, but that was the project I wanted to do and I thought it was unique; I hadn’t seen anything like it in the city before or in general. You’ll get people who write phrases or political graffiti but I never saw someone write poetry around. And then I decided to write them in English because we’re natives so it comes easy to us as well, plus I wanted something that everyone could read, especially in Thessaloniki where you get a lot of tourists coming in. Plus, it was something I could do internationally, so I’ve put posters in Barcelona, in Amsterdam…

KI: Yeah I was going to say I’ve noticed you put posters in the cities you visit, so if you had the chance would you want it to be posted more around the world or do you think it should be local to Thessaloniki?

@the_m_poetry: No I think worldwide, if I could put posters in every city I would. Definitely. Thessaloniki is not enough for me.

KI: Oh cool, and what are some of the challenges you face in the whole process?

@the_m_poetry: So the challenge is basically finding a place to put the poster. So, I would usually look for spots when I’m out, so if I’m downtown doing things - I would take a look around to see where I could put my poster. The problem is haters, so people would tear them down straight away and because it’s a poster as well it’s very easy to do. I actually had a person who went and tore down all the posters they could find and post that on instagram. Yeah it was kind of an ‘anti me’ thing which I don’t know - I find it depressing for that person, you have to be a really sad person to go and do that and then upload it on instagram and tag me as well to see that you’ve done it. And that really pissed me off, because I put time and money into this, you know, this is not for free, I have to pay for the printings and stuff. It’s my time going around and doing it. And after that I couldn’t be bothered, if people are just gonna treat it that way and tear it down before anyone has the chance to see it then it feels pointless. And then this has never happened to me but because it is considered ‘illegal’ you could get into trouble, someone could go on at you but for that reason I usually had a friend with me who was massive who was my bodyguard in case that happened.

KI: So then how do you choose where you want to put them?

@the_m_poetry: The problem is space, because in Thessaloniki with the street art and the graffiti everywhere, there are some rules to follow, so if I put a poster on someone’s graffiti it is very likely the artist would tear it down if it’s on their work. So basically finding free space that no one has claimed yet. But then if you put a poster on a clean place it will bring more posters to it as well. So I don’t know if you’ve seen this with stickers, where if you put a sticker in one area it will probably get more stickers on that spot. And that’s the same for street art and graffiti, if one piece goes up then more will follow. 

KI: And just going back to what you were saying about it being kind of illegal and people could stop you, a lot of people argue that general street art is vandalism or ‘ruins’ a city, how do you feel about this? And why do you think it is important to have art and poetry present in public streets? 

@the_m_poetry: It’s a form of expression for me. A lot of people think it’s illegal, okay, a lot of people do vandalise other people’s properties with stupid messages like football or things. But then again no one asked me if I wanted to see all these advertisements and big banners, I never had anyone ask me “do you mind watching this?” So since they’re forcing me with their adverts, I have the right to force them with my work, kind of. For me personally, the glue I use is wheat paste which is made of flour, water and sugar, so it can come off very easily and won’t leave any marks. So if anyone asked me I would tell them that this comes off easily and it won’t destroy your walls or damage anything. And I understand it, it is their building, which is why I try not to put it on a block of flats but on a public building. 

KI: And what is your favourite poster you’ve done?

@the_m_poetry: I got one tattooed on me as well “It took many times of getting lost to truly find myself” So that’s probably my favourite one. But the ones I put in Barcelona were cool as well. Although I don’t think they’re there anymore.

KI: Well I suppose you would have to go back and see.

@the_m_poetry: Yeah true. But it was fun, because that summer I went to Barcelona and London so I put posters in both cities which was cool. And in Barcelona I could actually see from my friend’s house the spot where I had put the poster.

KI: Oh that’s cool, and do you think you could remember where you’ve put them all?

@the_m_poetry: Not all of them, but most of them yeah.

KI: And do you ever check up on them?

@the_m_poetry: Sometimes yes like when I first put them up I always go check they’re still there. But now I don’t think there are many left in the city, but at the same time I haven’t been out to put any new ones up. 

KI: Anything else you want to share?

@the_m_poetry: I put stickers up as well, posters and stickers.

KI: I have some of your stickers! I was gonna go put one in the city somewhere but I got a bit scared so I’ll have to go one day when it’s dark.

@the_m_poetry: Yeah that’s probably a good idea. That’s the other thing, people were taking my stickers as well, but this time to keep them in their house not to just throw them away. 

KI: Oh, do you like that idea though?

@the_m_poetry: In the beginning, I thought someone was taking them and throwing them away so I was a bit pissed off. But then I saw this girl’s story whose whole wall was just covered in stickers she had taken from the streets. Which is cool but if you want to support me then just buy stickers from me instead of taking them from the city. She must have taken 20 of them. I'm not joking. 

KI: Yeah I’m not like that, I only have a few. But it’s funny because I remember telling my mum when I first saw one in the city and I thought it was really cool and now here I am talking to you about it. 

@the_m_poetry: Yeah it was funny because it hyped up at some point when I first started putting up the posters and everyone was putting them on instagram. I was like ‘oh wow this is going pretty well’ and then I kind of decided to do a book or something but then the ‘dark age’ started so I couldn’t be bothered doing anything, so everything’s on the side for now.

KI: But I think that’s better because you’re not forcing it and your work is very authentic so that’s part of it.

@the_m_poetry: Yeah I don’t think you can force these things with the arts, if you force it the results won’t be good. 

On that note, I hope this piece has engaged the true depth of street art and how much meaning goes into each work. Street art is often just seen but never fully understood, and it seems that in actuality as works they speak for those who live in the city and represent more than we all might think. @the_m_poetry is one of many street artists that give cities that extra culture, but they are definitely one of a kind and I await the day I return to Thessaloniki in the future to see new works all over these old streets.