by Emma Riva
There’s no recreating the moment when spraypaint hits a wall. It’s a physical thing, with the crack of the cap and the sharp woosh of the paint leaving the can. Hemispheric Conversations Urban Art Project (HCUAP), pronounced “hiccup,” recognized that that moment was something that could create shared understanding and new dialogue. The paradox of graffiti is that it’s both a public art form universally visible, but at the same time only people in the know of the culture are able to recognize its nuances. I came to graffiti as a journalist through UP Mag and lifelong New Yorker, but when I moved to Pittsburgh, I began to try to learn more about the city’s graffiti history. I started working with HCUAP this past fall through knowing Caitlin Bruce, Max Gonzales, and Shane Pilster.