ENERI PSM
Photo by Tony Ozegovich
1. Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about yourself?
Hi! My name is Irene, and I am known in the streets as Eneri (my name back to front) I was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil (the fifth biggest city in the world).
Pixo is a strong cultural movement in São Paulo, also born and raised here. Started in the 80s with the punk movements, and the aesthetic is to be aggressive, using black as the main colour, without using contours and shades, breaking with the import of graffiti aesthetics (as always happened with the artistic and architecture movements here). The points are places in the middle of the city where people who make Pixo (pixadores) come to meet, make signatures and drink together. When I was a teenager, I started to go to some underground parties (rap battles, baile funk and reggae) until I met my first Pixo point in 2013, then in the same year I started to paint.
2. What inspired you to get into Pixo?
I got inspired by meeting some people that paint, after walking around the city and feeling their presence, without them actually being there was awesome for me… Also, here in Brazil people don’t cross other people pieces, São Paulo have so many people doing Pixo that they started to need to find higher and harder places to be part of the agendas (a wall or building with many Pixos made) and then climbing to paint became also something cultural.
Everybody that lives here already asked themselves what people do to get so high to paint, and when I discovered how I got enchanted. Seeing people using only their bodies and building structures to climb, risking their lives to do what they want is totally insane. When I felt the adrenaline for the first time, I fell in love with the sensation…
Photo by 1UP Crew
3. How has Pixo effected your life?
Many ways, I think first was my relationship with the streets, going out and looking at the spots to make, wanting to paint all the neighbourhoods of the city, the friendships I made, many that I keep until today.
Then the relationship with my family (they didn’t understand at all) and my problems with the police…
I have already been beaten, arrested, paid fines, and even lost a friend climbing…
Now in São Paulo I need to stay safe to not get caught, cause probably this would result in spending some time in jail... but at the same time, the visibility I got also started to open some doors and turned into some invites to meet new places for artistic works, that I also enjoy the opportunity to be out of my city and out of the troubles to make more illegals again when I feel safe about it.
4. How does painting make you feel?
Painting is like my addiction, an addiction that started to be part of who I am... It makes me feel free, but at the same time I felt stoked on this addiction every time I thought to stop and then started to make again. When you make a successful vandal you feel the best feeling ever, feel unstoppable, especially after the most difficult ones. But when you are trying to run away from a hard situation, or get caught, for sure your mind starts to ask yourself why to be like this, when you could have a less risky life.
5. Do you prefer hitting the streets, trains, abandoned spots or legal walls?
For sure I prefer climbing, specially by windows, balconies or holes, and specially the ones who are occupied, not abandoned... But they are the harder ones, so the abandoned are also a good option when you want to do something big without getting all the risk... I like the legal ones to write something more than my signature, explore new ideas and styles, and for sure to pay my bills haha. Trains are not so common to be painted here in São Paulo, because it causes much trouble. I like doing it for sure, but usually it’s not my focus when I go to places. Here in Brazil, we also value a lot the materials of the walls, how hard is to buff, most we like, like rocks, stones, tiles...
Also, I think is important to say that for us climbing is different than rappelling, climbing it’s only you, your partners and the building going by the outside of the building to get the spot and rappelling you get a rope to go down with the equipments by inside of the building...
I like doing both and is even more intense when you do both together (climb by the outside to get the top and go down by the rope)
Photo by @Esteticaperiferica
6. How do you keep safe when painting?
When I go to paint alone, I try to share my location with someone who knows what I am doing... When I am climbing, I always try to check the structure I will put my weight on before really doing it... Also, I try to always follow my intuition, I really believe in spirituality and my guides, I am from Quimbanda, a Brazilian religion, and I try to always be connected with it...
7. Whats the craziest situation, good or bad that you have been in?
Have many situations, one of them was when the guy who was living on the place, closed the window in one way that trapped my hand in it, and then we needed to talk with him for a while so he could calm down and open it so I can go out hahaha and one that scared me a lot was to get caught after almost 1 hour trying to hide and run away from cops in other country, without understanding what the cops was saying (they refused to talk in english)...
8. What is the scene like where you are from, how was it in the past and what do you see it being like in the near future?
Here it is really chaotic and competitive, but I learned that my fight is against the system and not with our equals. One thing that makes me proud here is how many girls we have doing it, and the number keeps growing and growing.
I believe that Pixo is starting to get more visibility cause nowadays we have much more access to cameras, internet and all the stuff to document... As people in Berlin took the reference from Pixo some years ago and got a lot of visibility because they had the access to document and share what was being made. For much time Pixo was only being seen on the streets, and only being understood by the ones who make it, but this is starting to change.
The movement still has some internal disagreements because there’s people who think Pixo is art, and people who think it isn’t, and it needs to be always only vandal. I believe that representing the style in art pieces brings opportunity for those who are always risking their life and putting themselves in trouble for it, but for sure the real essence of Pixo will always be the illegal. As it is with graffiti, even after it started to occupy and be represented in galleries and museums, it still has only the complete essence in the illegal actions.
Photo by Carla Arakaki
9. What are your favourite tools for painting?
Spray cans, roller, and to make rappel spots the handmade chair we do here in Brazil (it’s much more comfortable to use than the belt because it doesn’t kill your legs while you are doing it hahaha)
10. Who are the artists that inspire you and why?
Every-time I see a girl painting I know how much resistance it needs to be part, so I always feel inspired. But Nixs (@nix_skt) is a girl that inspires me a lot being a legend in the climbing and Lala (@lala_terrivel) is a legend in the rappel spots and is the one who teaches me how to do it. See their pages on IG.
Photo by Martha Cooper
11. Where is your favourite city/country to paint in?
São Paulo before I had troubles with the police, because the architecture here is perfect to make it and has many historical “agendas”. Rio de Janeiro is like my second home. Athens has my heart because it is a crazy and lovely place at same time, Paris the rooftops architecture scares me a lot but doing it anyway was crazy, Medellin felt like being in home for me and the architecture reminds me São Paulo, in all these places was magic for me and I also connected with many friends that will be always in my heart.
12. What advice would you give to upcoming writers?
Respect who comes before you, if you want to be part of one culture or style, you need to know the history before starting to do it... Be original in your style even if you will use someone as a reference.
Also, I think is important to know what the consequences in the place you are living or planning to do, and think if that risk is worth it for you, if yes then think what you need to do to avoid troubles... in beginning we think that we will never get caught, but if you start to do it a lot believe me, one day it will happen… nobody is lucky 100% of the time, be careful and follow your intuition and instincts.
Photo by @
13. Where do you see yourself in a few years?
We never know what will happen tomorrow, but my dream is to travel many places making Pixo and connecting with nice people.
14. Could you tell us your favourite graffiti documentary or book on graffiti?
“PIXO” available for free on youtube with english lyrics on “TX NOW” channel.
“100comedia” (vol 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 available for free on youtube)
Thank you for doing this interview with us!