Artist turns graffiti into 'Godfitti'

Mon, 12 Sep 2011

Nazarene Communications Network
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Louisville, Kentucky
NCN News Staff

Stephen Arapahoe finds emotional release in his art.

As a youth, he funneled his problems at home and his worries associated with life on the streets through his artistic talent, although some view his chosen art form, graffiti, as criminal.

"When they hear 'graffiti', they're like, 'Oh!' They associate it with violence," Arapahoe said.

God gave him a talent, however, and now he uses it to glorify Christ.

"I call it Godfitti," he said.

Arapahoe shared his artistic ability in a hands-on environment all week with students at Nazarene Youth Conference 2011 in the City Connexx booth at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, Kentucky.

City Connexx is as nonprofit ministry based in Denver, Colorado, that works with urban youth. The organization grew out of an association with the Crossroads of the Rockies, a Nazarene compassionate ministry center.

The center helped Arapahoe find Christ, but his journey to the cross took time.

"I was in the projects and seen a van going by and watched my friends getting inside," he said. "I wanted to go with them, so I hopped in the van.

"Little did I know that I was going to church."

Arapahoe was unaccustomed to a church environment. His mom and dad's relationship was unstable and his family lived with relatives, friends, or whoever would provide them shelter.

His mother obtained permanent housing in the Westwood housing district in Denver, Colorado, when Arapahoe was about 5 years old. But having a home didn't mean stability for the family.

"My mom and dad would get me out on the streets so they could party with people," he said.

He found solace in his friends on the street.

"They were my family," he said.

When he started visiting the child development center at Crossroads, he began to invite his "bad" friends to come along, he said.

"I inherited 10 totally out of control kids and Stephen was one of them," said Ellen Barton, who was the director at the time.

Barton loved the boys as Christ loved them, but she didn't take any of their nonsense.

"I think they missed 40 percent of the planned outings we had because of their behavior," she said.

Barton let the boys know that she loved them, but she had rules and she expected them to behave in a respectable manner.

"Ellen has a great heart," Arapahoe said. "But she didn't put up with anything we did."

Crossroads provided the structure and love Arapahoe missed in his life, but he preferred the streets at the time.

"I wasn't ready to go down the right road," he said.

But he never let go of his love for art.

"All the anger and all the pain I was dealing with at home, I was taking out through my art form," he said.

At 13, he began painting on railroad trains, subway stations, inside McDonald's restrooms under his break-dancing name, Swift Rock. His street art garnered him a reputation and he ran with a crew of about 14 youth.

"We weren't a gang, although some of my boys, the guys I hung out with on the street belonged to gangs," he said.

The difference between graffiti art and gang graffiti is night and day, he said.

"Gang graffiti is about violence, tagging stuff, territory, killing, marking out other gangs' graffiti," he said. "Ours was about the art; seeing who was the best."

But he never forgot about Crossroads or its associate church, Grace Church of the Nazarene.