User:Mark Tanti

History Mark Tanti was born in 1982 in Hammersmith and City and spent his childhood growing up in Josephine Avenue Brixton South London. He attended Ashby Mill Primary School in Brixton which sadly is no longer around as it was knocked down and flats were built in its place.

He moved with his parents to Streatham Hill at the age of 12 were he spent most of his teenage years whilst living here he attended Chestnut Grove Secondary School in Balham 1993-1998. Chestnut Grove was recognised for its art as a specialism and it had a new art block built at the time Mark started there.

Mark wasn’t very academic when it came to subjects like Maths, English, and Science etc probably due to the fact that he had severe Dyslexia but surprisingly found that he had an above average to ability when it came to Art. Because of his Dyslexia he found himself in the bottom set at school and in a class that the teachers labelled as the worst class in the year, because the class was known for its bad behaviour and disrespect towards teachers.

Mark was one of the youngest in the year and found himself getting bullied by his peers. He wanted to be accepted by the popular crowd but did not know how to fit in. Mark started hanging out with the rowdy young people from the year bellow. He would go aggressive street skating; an extreme sport which involved skating around London and doing GRINDS on surfaces using wax to slide across them using the skates which were expensive to buy at that age.

Whilst hanging out with the young people from the year bellow trying to find his place his parents were putting increasing pressure on him to do well at school as they were both teachers who knew that education was an important part of his development. But what they didn’t realise that this enforcement of education would only push him further into rebellion, for all the schooling he tried hard at he made up for outside of school getting involved in street activities.

He would travel every weekend to Ladbroke Grove were he would use the skate park underneath the flyover. He would travel through London on his skates on the trains using the overground and underground, he would meet up with the other young people in Victoria Station together they would bunk the fair and get chased by station staff it was all part of the fun.

Mark was influenced heavily by the crowd he was hanging out with as he was accepted by them, they all had street names and did graffiti on the transport system Mark soon found himself getting involved and developed his graffiti name. He had found his identity, someone who was good at graffiti as he was already good at art.

This new identity gained him the respect from everyone around him, which made him more and more obsessed with the art form. His life had a new meaning to graffiti every possible surface, although illegal he viewed it as a harmless crime and a way to be popular amongst his peers.

Despite all the distractions Mark managed to achieve an A* in art at GCSE level, he then went on to study A’ levels in Fine Art and Advanced Art & Design at the BRIT School of Performing Arts in Croydon 1998-2000 again he passed with A* and distinctions.

At about the same time Mark was also studying Life Drawing at Lambeth College 1999 -2000 and passed. Mark carried on studying and managed to get on a foundation course in Graphic Design at the London College of Printing 2000-2001 now (LCC) in Elephant & Castle and passed.

After the foundation in graphic design mark applied to several Universities but unfortunately did not get accepted. Feeling disheartened Mark decided that University wasn’t going to be for him and worked in a retail outlet in Oxford Street for a year, his parents persuaded him to try and apply again for University and he gave it one last shot and managed to get a place on a BA hons Degree in Community Arts and Design at the University of Greenwich2002 –2005.

The BA hons Degree in Community Art and Design was very difficult for Mark and it was a great challenge for him educationally because of his learning disability but he managed to pass and it was very usefull as it taught him how to work as a graffiti artist within communities in a professional manner.

Mark later moved to Stevenage in 2006 leaving behind friends and family, he was unemployed for about a year before he went on to do the business start up initiative through the Job Centre which helped to establish his business as Demograffix. At about the same time Mark became employed part time for the Hertfordshire Youth Service now know as Youth Connexions.

Mark attended a meeting at the Digswell Arts Trust in Fairlands Valley Stevenage 2006 where he met the Digswell Artists and other members of the Stevenage community making contacts and useful links, Darryl Watson who worked for Stevenage borough council asked if he would work on a mural in the Bedwell area of Stevenage. Liz Ejoune a member of Digswell Arts Trust took a shine to marks form of art work and was very supportive and allowed him to share her studio in order for him learn from her how to work in communities.

Mark and Liz worked on many summer workshops together and a large project working under the name ASBO*Rations funded by the Youth Oppertunities Fund (The Big Spend) 2007. Together they aimed to work in communities raising young people’s “aspirations” through Aerosol Art murals. This project funded the Shephall community centre in Stevenage to be decorated with a mural and the double-decker Youth Connexions wheels bus.

Working with Liz Ejoune proved to be a valuable experience for Mark as it allowed him to see how large projects should be run when funded correctly, he also became re-united after a decade with Ashley Goldson  one of the managing directors of the MBA association who he had worked for in 1998 aged 14.

Mark used to visit Stevenage because his grandparents lived there and had written a letter to Bowes Lyon youth centre asking if they would need the skate park decorated, they paid for Mark to paint an Aerosol Art mural this was Marks first big solo project and Ashley saw the level of Marks work and hired him to paint the indoor basket ball hall which is still here to date. Through Ashley Goldson, Mark was introduced to Colleen Murphy a Community Development Officer for the Great Ashby, St Nicholas and Martins Wood areas of Stevenage. Colleen helped Mark to gain funding to paint the Oval mural and the St Nicholas mural 2007-2009 through attending the local JAG area committee meetings Mark met the local Councillors and was granted funding for these projects.

Mark was contacted by Chloe Beckett from Welwyn & Hatfield Council 2009 to work with the Welwyn & Hatfield Youth Council and the Mayor on a couple of Aerosol Art murals to be painted in Hatfield town centre. The first mural was painted on the outside of Master Pound for Quality and the second was painted on the outside of the old Post Office at both locations the premises were boarded up for years and were viewed as an eyesore in the town centre and Marks murals brightened up the area considerably.

Mark became a member of The Digswell Arts Trust and continued his career within the youth service, whilst continuing with his community art projects around Hertfordshire. Mark has been working with the ground works team and has run workshops for young people in Hitchin providing a half term activity. Working with young people to create a graffiti mural at the Coffee Mill youth centre on the large boards outside and concrete slabs that were placed in the ground at The Crescent, and the young people at Purwell completed three large canvases.

Mark has also given a talk on Graffiti art workshops for Conference at Hatfield House in March 2009 where he provided two sessions. He talked on the types of graffiti workshops he provides in Hertfordshire and about his career. Play workers got the chance to experience a workshop by painting their own small canvases using spray paint and paint pens.

Mark has continued to work with the Hertfordshire Ground works team over summer getting involved in the summer programme producing a mural and some large canvases with the young people in Hitchin, they also managed to get marks art work displayed at this year’s Rhythms Of the World festival.

Mark has also been very busy over the summer getting involved in the youth connexions summer programme “Youthoria” where he has been working with young people all over Hertfordshire and making a major impact in many communities. He also completed a large mural working for the youth service at Breaks Manor in Hatfield and this also got a mention in the Welwyn and Hatfield Times.

On 23rd of August 2009 Mark had the arrival of his first child “Lilly” with his partner Rachel who had to have a caesarean operation.

In October 2009 Mark has worked on a Mural at Marriotts School in Stevenage which received press from Heartbeat FM and the Comet Newspaper. The young students learnt techniques and got involved in customised clothing and canvas workshops. This work will be part of the year 11’s Art GCSE’s and the project seems to have been a success as they received good grades in Art.

Mark worked with St Mary’s church December 2009 on the Advent Calendar project in Old Welwyn over the festive season. A new shop window was unveiled each day with the work of a local artist and mark had been asked to do a graffiti piece using the carol Silent Night to be unveiled and displayed on 12 December at the Sagar Tandorhi restaurant.

Mark worked on a couple of murals with the youth connexions service over the Easter break 2010, working with the young people from South Oxhey youth centre and Breaks Manor in Hatfield.

Mark met Gordon Brown when he visited Stevenage in April 2010 who praised mark for his youth workshops and murals in Stevenage, Sharon Taylor the council leader for Stevenage was also there and she said she would support the underpass project 100% as these mural workshops are helping to reduce anti-social behaviour in Stevenage and vandalism has dropped over the past three years around about the time when mark first started.