ANIMAL paired SABE, a NYC-based graffiti writer and artist, with Carter Cruise, an adult film star and deejay. The mission? Teach her graffiti.
Cruise met up with us in an industrial area near the Queens-Brooklyn border. SABE pulled out a drippy marker and wrote his name and then hers. He handed her the mop filled with shoe dye and Japanese Sumi ink, and without hesitation, she took her first tag. She was hooked. “I think it’s fun because it’s like you’re doing something you’re not supposed to be doing, but it’s not like you’re doing anything bad,” she said. “And I love doing shit that pisses people off who are squares.” Cruise then moved onto spray paint, which was a lot more difficult. She eventually got the hang of it.
But the 22-year-old didn’t want to just write her name, she wanted to make a statement. Cruise grabbed a spray can and starting painting the phrase “#FuckYourFilter.” She says it’s a critique of those who overdo it with Instagram filters and cultivate a culture of airbrushing for the masses. It’s also a plea for the social media network to stop censoring female nipples.
“You know if you see a guy topless its fine, but if you see a girl topless suddenly it becomes risqué,” explains Cruise. “There’s something about that little square inch that’s just so sexual that people can’t handle it.”
(Video/Photos: Aymann Ismail/ANIMALNewYork)
