Students Experience the Art of Graffiti at Mural Painting Event on Gates Quad

Bella Chirkis ’27

Staff writer

This past weekend, Trinity College held Temple of Hip Hop’s 18th Trinity International Hip-Hop Festival. The goal of the festival is to celebrate underrepresented hip hop. Events lasted all day from Thursday, April 4 until Saturday, April 6, 2024. These events included a breakdance masterclass, a DJ showcase battle, a retrospective gallery and a “My Life” keynote speaker by graffiti artist James Top on Thursday.

Friday’s events included a Mural Project featuring Micaela Levesque, Dance Your Style Auditions, Beat Making Workshop, “Till Infinity” Showcase and Graffiti Mural Paintings. Finally, this past Saturday’s events included a James Top Film Screening, “The New Voices of Democracy in Senegal” screening, a Youth 4 Change showcase, a Producer Showcase, Real Art Ways Film screening, a Favorites showcase and a main concert night. Trinity students had the opportunity to watch and even participate in these wide array of events on campus, providing a fun and educational way to learn about hip hop culture.

One of the events that the Tripod attended  was the Graffiti Mural Painting event. On the Gates Quad, there is a variety of white panels with freshly unique and painted artwork. These pieces of art were created all day on Friday and are now up on the lawn for all students and staff to see and admire. Trinity students were given the opportunity to do their own graffiti for the Graffiti Battle, which would be judged by professional graffiti artists the next day. Students were provided spray paint to work with in every color imaginable, and they had the opportunity to go back and add touch ups to their artwork at any point in the day. Students worked on either one or two panels, creating individual works of art as well as decorating panels that multiple students participated in. Each artist signed their work with their initials, truly making it their own.

The Tripod had the opportunity to interview one of the contestants of the contest, Lucienne Dougherty ’27. Considering herself an artist who concentrates in painting on canvas, graffiti artwork provided a challenge for Dougherty as well as an exciting creative outlet to get to paint something twice her size. “It was my first time using spray paint,” Dougherty said while adding finishing touches to her work of art. Instead of doing traditional graffiti art, Dougherty took to her artistic roots and painted a wave with a colorful pastel sunset. Seeing the different types of work that students came up with created a beautiful mural, mixing and creating a sense of artistic diversity between traditional graffiti and other forms of art.

If you missed the opportunity to attend any of the events for the 18th Trinity International Hip-Hop Festival this year, no need to worry. Next spring will be Temple of Hip Hop’s 19th Trinity International Hip-Hop Festival to represent the culture and music behind hip hop. You can find more information and follow their mission on Instagram @trinityhiphop.