UP chose its Issue 3 theme, ‘Community & Culture,’ before we even had our debut launch party in June 2019. (One simply does not sell their life insurance without planning ahead.) Perhaps it’s kismet, then, that this topic would prove so pertinent to 2020, a year defined by global pandemic, racial strife, economic uncertainty, and fractured politics that have ripped our social collective apart. For the UP team, the consequences of these seismic shifts have been felt both directly and indirectly, personally and professionally.
If these stories are evidence of anything, it’s the resilience of the urban art community. Whether muralists, sticker slappers, illegal graff writers, or commissioned street artists, the name of the game is getting up – no matter the obstacles.
-T.K. Mills, Editor in Chief