Osaka Graffiti, 2003 | COSA & ZONE

Osaka, Japan, 2003. We travelled down from Tokyo to catch up with COSA and ZONE, two old-school graffiti writers who were already veterans of the scene back then. In this extract from our first documentary, Scratching the Surface: Japan, the pair talk about painting in Japan, experimenting with spray-can caps and adapting the tools and techniques of graffiti to their own style. We also get into Japanese lettering, with graffiti writer VERY 1 joining the conversation off camera. The discussion explores the use of katakana and other Japanese characters in graffiti, and how writers were developing their own visual language rather than simply following Western lettering traditions. About Scratching the Surface: Japan Filmed in 2003 and completed in 2004, Scratching the Surface: Japan was our first documentary, exploring Japan's underground hip-hop culture, from graffiti and turntablism to MCs, DJs and breaking. It was also the first project we made together as Suridh Hassan and Ryo Sanada. Back then, we worked under the name Kwai-Lo, which later evolved into SRK (Studio Rarekwai and Studio Rarekind). Over the following years, we went on to produce and direct books and films including RackGaki: Japanese Graffiti (2007), Graffiti Asia (2010), and BASSWEIGHT (2010), one of the earliest documentaries dedicated to dubstep. BASSWEIGHT explored the music's South London roots and its emergence as an international movement, featuring artists including Skream, Benga, Kode9, Digital Mystikz and Mary Anne Hobbs. We also made Soka Afrika, a documentary exploring the dreams and difficult realities facing young African footballers hoping to build careers in Europe. More than 20 years after we first started working together, we're still making things. These days we're behind SOI Publishing, an independent publisher working across art, design, music and visual culture. We're gradually bringing our film archives back to life, alongside new films about artists, books, creative culture and the stories behind them. Enjoyed the film? Give it a like and subscribe for more from the archives and the SOI Books team. Have an idea for a book? At SOI Books, we work with artists, photographers, musicians, brands and creative people to turn interesting ideas, stories and archives into distinctive books made to last. Whether you've got years of material sitting in boxes or a book you've always wanted to make, we'd love to hear about it. Find out more: https://www.soibooks.com/make #JapaneseGraffiti #OsakaGraffiti #COSA #ZONE #GraffitiHistory #SOIBooks