In recent years, Haka has shifted his focus a little away from political statements, to the softer world of children’s picture books. The act of graffiti is no less subversive, but perhaps reflects different priorities in the artist’s life right now.
Haka, St George, Bristol, April 2024
This piece is a faithful reproduction of the iconic children’s classic ‘Not Now, Bernard’ by David McKee, with the obvious replacement of the name Bernard with Haka. The piece, painted on the reverse side of a skate ramp, is in one of Haka’s favoured spots, and is wholly appropriate given that the park is so popular with young families. More, please.
It was a great pleasure to meet Haka, alongside Inkie and Sepr, when he was painting this piece as part of a collaborative wall last month. Although Haka had pretty much finished when I caught up with him, he did subsequently add another character to the right of the piece.
Haka, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024
Those familiar with Haka’s work will recall that he tends to paint combination pieces with his customary letters accompanied by characters from children’s books, shows or comics. When I was a kid, there were three popular children’s comic, Beano, Dandy and Beezer, and these characters come from one or other – I think that they are from the series Bash Street Kids, although the modern revised version, not the one I grew up with. The two characters here are Wilfred and Danny.
Haka, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024
There is mischief in this piece, with a bright and vibrant HAKA and the cheerful duo. I cannot think of a more appropriate place to paint these characters than in this spot, which is often frequented by real-life Bash Street Kids. Great stuff.
I was fortunate yesterday in being in the right place at the right time and bumped into Inkie, Sepr and Haka who were painting a wall alongside the M32, I think with some links to St Patrick’s Day, or at least that is what Inkie implied. I managed to have a quick chat with Haka who continues to smash it with his writing/character combination pieces, heavily influenced by the picture books in his household.
Haka, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2024
This wonderful piece, painted as part of Ryder’s RAW paint jam, features The Very Busy Spider, created by Eric Carle (author and illustrator of The Hungry Caterpillar).Bookended by the letters HA-KA, the spider is waiting patiently in its web, faithful to the style of the illustrator. A fun piece that sadly didn’t last very long.
This piece from Haka is simply perfect in every way.
Our country is in a mess, largely thanks to the appalling Government that have been in power for the last 14 years, and their lurch to the right. Their latest culture war that they are waging on the good people of the UK, is that anyone protesting for peace in Gaza and an immediate ceasefire is branded an Islamist, which when you look at it, is absurd. Calls for an end to the war, and indeed countless other wars, are treated as a threat or anti-government, rather than being a cry to stop the needless killing and suffering. What else can citizens do to express their concerns other than protest. I would think that the vast majority of British people are against the war in Gaza, after all what kind of person would want the killing to continue? Only those who stand to gain financially or politically.
In this piece Haka peacefully makes his own statement ‘Free Palestine’, accompanied by a small peace flag. Does this make him a fundamentalist or an Islamist? I don’t think so. Nor does it make any of the other street artists who have painted commentary pieces about the war in Gaza some kind of threat to our British values. On the contrary, British values are based on compassion, fairness, decency, honesty and truth. It is politicians and political leaders who bend these values to suit their own narratives, and in this respect the right wingers have excelled themselves in recent years. Decent people have had enough. We need a change of government, but alongside that we need to return to a united society, because we have some far greater challenges ahead of us which we must face together. There is no room for selfishness any more, that way leads to our mutually assured doom.
Sermon over.
Haka, Peel Street Green, Bristol, February 2024
This piece is beautifully recreated in the style of Dr Seuss and perfectly captures the moment. The innocence of the camel adding to the pathos of the message. Haka has created something both beautiful and powerful and I salute him. This is not a ‘hate’ piece, it is a cry for peace piece.
It is always a genuine pleasure to find Haka pieces, and this CK One graffiti writing and character combination is a bit of fun under the M32. I don’t know who the character is, but it looks a little unfinished to me.
Haka, Frome Side, Bristol, January 2024
The solid black letters really stand out, however, the white paint drop shadow is a little thinner, and could have done with another coat, maybe. Great work and a playful approach from Haka.
Haka and Logoe, Horfield skate park, Bristol, November 2023
I don’t tend to visit Horfield skate park all that often, even though it is one of the closer spots to where I live, mainly because the turnover there is disappointingly slow. On the upside, when I do make the trip, there are usually two or three new pieces to enjoy. This one is a rather nice little collaboration from Logoe and Haka.
Haka and Logoe, Horfield skate park, Bristol, November 2023
The duck character on the left is by Haka, and for once I am stumped – I don’t know if the duck is from Haka’s imagination or is from a children’s picture book, either way he is rather fun. Logoe completes the collaboration with his straight-line script writing, great fills and oval spots. The background colour helps to lift the whole thing and adds vibrancy and joy to a rather dull concrete corner of the Horfield Leisure Centre.
I have managed to confuse myself with my pipeline of pieces in preparation for posting. This was meant to be a graffiti writing piece by Smak at Sparke Evans Park, but something has gone wrong with my system, so it is in fact this wonderful writing /character piece by Haka in Cumberland Basin.
Haka, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2023
In this piece, we see Haka returning to Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler for inspiration with this brilliantly recreated witch from their book ‘Room on the Broom’. The writing demonstrates an interesting feature of paint quality. The red fills, there are two have different strengths. The upper red is strong and requires only one coat. The lower red is thinner and unless several coats are applied, the patterns already on the wall will come through. This happens a lot with yellow colours too. There is usually a little guide on the spray can that tells you the strength of the paint. This would explain why some paint cans run out much quicker than others. One solution is to buff the wall first, but Haka rarely does that. Really nice work from Haka.
I remember, looking back, that a few years back I used to think of Haka as something of an ‘edgy’ graffiti writer and artist as there were sometimes quite hard-hitting narratives alongside his work, but I think I was wrong at the time, and in recent years his work has been gentle and humorous and a joy to witness.
Haka, Peel Street Green, Bristol, October 2023
This new piece in Peel Street Green is a reflection of his work over the last 20 years and features a wonderful Snoopy character sitting on a rocket alongside some cheery bright and colourful letters. His work is upbeat and fun and these days works especially well for younger viewers, as many of his references are children’s cartoon or picture book characters. I hope this one stays as long as his Garfield piece in the same location.
Haka rarely disappoints, and although he seems to have slowed down a little this summer, his work just seems to be always out there. This is a fun piece on the not-so-long hoarding on the Bristol to Bath cycle path, a hoarding that will before too long be entirely absent, as the new housing development nears completion.
Haka, Greenbank, Bristol, July 2023
Haka has an unrestrained vibe in his work and doesn’t seem to get hung up on convention, which affords him a freedom that comes across as very happy pieces. Here he has written his name alongside a ghost character from Ghostbusters (a movie that I can only think of as the original, as the glimpses I have had of the add-on films have left me cold). Always a great pleasure to see Hakka’s work.
I was walking home from town a week or two back, after a leaving do for a very dear friend and colleague who I have known for about 30 years. I took the opportunity to take a couple of snaps of this wonderful piece by Haka, which I have known about for a while, but just haven’t been able to photograph. For nighttime photographs, I think they have come out pretty well – it is amazing how good mobile phone cameras are these days (sounding like the old man I am).
Haka, Stokes Croft, Bristol, March 2023
The message is a great observation and commentary on the current cost of living crisis, with inflation at over 10% and pay offers typically under 5%, meaning a cut in salaries for most people (a situation I have been living with for more than 10 years, being about 20% worse off in real terms than I was before Tory austerity measures). This Government think it is fine to cut thee taxes of the richest, but restrain pay for everyone else. The sooner they go, the better.
I’m familiar with the character Haka has painted – a right old meanie – but I can’t quite place what cartoon series/book he is from. Fabulous to see a political piece from Haka.
Natural adventures 