Graffiti South Africa

Johannesburg-based graffiti artist HacOne grew up in Soweto and has since moved to the city. He began drawing at an early age, making comics as a kid, and slowly getting into the graffiti scene. This love for the graffiti art form inspired him to take his art more seriously and he began a course in graphic design after finishing school. This was his ‘first formal creative training’…

When did you first start graffiti? What got you into it and why did you start?

I started writing around 97-98. I had been sketching before then because I had seen graffiti before in rap videos and stuff. When I got more into the hip-hop culture graffiti art became a more natural element for me.

Tell us about your name and why you chose it.

I started out writing Icon but always struggled with connecting the I and the C so I changed my name to Hack. Later, I found out that there was a Hack in Cape Town, so because I had already been using the name, I just changed it to HacOne. I liked the way the letters worked together.

You are one of the first-generation writers in Johannesburg. Give us some insight on the early graffiti scene there.

When I started out there was a few writers I used to see around…

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