Note: I think it’s about time I properly introduce myself.
My name is Reyna and I write. Or should I say I’m a writer-in-the-making since I’ve only dropped tags every now and then, here and there. I’m still in the process of studying letterforms and style development.
In other words, yes. I’m still a straight up toy.
I’ve been into art since I was little. I grew up around it, studied it and it’s been the only thing consistent in my life so far. I’ve been painting long before I was first exposed to graffiti, which was only two years ago when I first moved to Malaysia.
My impression of graffiti was pretty typical of an outsider. I appreciated the art but I didn’t think much of it until I met
Cyde02, who opened up my eyes to the culture – telling stories of the scene, his personal experiences in it and life in general. Meeting him was the tipping point of all this and he’s been a ubiquitous influence in my growth artistically and as a person up 'til now.
I’ve met quite a number of other writers since and the more I knew about graffiti, the more drawn I became to it. I fell in love with how raw it is and how passionate these people were against all odds. That fearlessness became something I wanted so badly to emulate and because I already had a somewhat similar background, their means of communicating it was something I could already relate to.
Around the same time there have been drastic changes in my life mainly because I’ve finally gained the freedom to really explore myself, living on my own and all. Graffiti became more than just an art form, but a mirror image of what I was going through. Tagging my name became a public declaration of my rebirth and I can honestly say that I have never felt more comfortable in my own skin, who I am, and the direction I’m going.
It’s been a thrilling and humbling experience so far, which is pretty wild since I’ve only just begun to take the plunge.
Hello, world. I’m finally here. :)Oh, and how did Reyna come about? I wanted a tag name in my mother tongue. Reyna means
‘queen’ in Tagalog. Coincidentally, it also means
‘to have experienced/to feel’ in Icelandic. Fitting, no?
Big ups to
KWS. ♥
