In the days when the 2095 chick had a teeny tiny Canon SX20 (which fit ever so sweetly in to the bag so the rapid "take it, shoot it, put away post haste" routine was maintained at all times) she happened upon a funny little cartoon character stuck way up high on a corner in Cleveland Street.
Such was her intense intrigue with this creature, little did she realise the act of standing still to study this little cutie, caused other folk (who ordinarily wouldn't have given it the time of day such is their need to get from A to B with eyes firmly planted on the ground: god forbid eye contact being made!) to stop & see what the 2095 was looking at.
Amid a lot of "oh how cuuuute" verbal emissions, the 2095 realised her private discovery moment had been become public, whereupon she continued down Cleveland Street in pursuit of other street-art discoveries.
Not long after, another discovery was made and being somewhat more enlightened, the 2095'er was most confident with her self-talk: "yep, that's a Bunkwaa"
Like most things, once you see one you see many, almost multiplying at the rate of new postcodes.
Ok time to get real. When one accepts that as a photographer one must embrace and acknowledge street-photography-whiplash'itis THEN you see these little nuggets of Bunkwaa gold appear more often than not.
Thus my 5 questions with Bunkwaa begin.
You are a man who wears many hats. When did the world of Bunkwaa begin: was it a style or a doodle that came to life or was it one of those lightening moments where it was AH HA! THIS IS IT!
I've been Bunkwaa for over 10 years now, so bear with me while I ramble through my story.
I've always drawn. I was compelled to draw. For me it wasn't choice, it just "was". I had so many different styles and loved making comic books. From a young age I realised I was born to be a cartoonist.
I went to art school when I was older and decided to put away the cartoon drawing and focus on becoming a "real" artist. For 2 years I put aside my cartoon drawing. By my 3rd year of uni, I couldn't hold it back anymore: cartoon characters exploded out of me. It was almost as if they had built up under the pressure of my resistance.
I couldn't stop. I drew frantically. I drew so quickly I remember the pencil flinging out of my hand many times. I kept making happy "accidents" as I drew.
One of those accidents was to dra the top lip through the eyes of the character: splitting eyes into eyeballs and teeth.
I remember looking at it thinking "this looks great!". I refined it and over time, the characters have become to be what is now known as the Bunkwaa's
What is that really triggers your creative side. Do you find yourself getting delightfully distracted and simply continue to completion, or are you having to compromise your time in order to keep whatever projects are on the go, remain "on the go"?
My art is a very important part of my being. If I look back at my life, my has been compromised too many times. I like hiding in my cave (studio) and working on my comic book. It's the one thing that keeps me going. One day I will be dead, but I'd like this particular piece to continue living.
The first issue is nearly ready. I've made heaps of comics before, but this one is my opus.
It's a mix of 1984, a brave new world and adventure time!
Being somewhat tall, what has been on THE most bizarre places you have put the teeny Bunkwaa so as to ensure that street-photography-whiplash is in full effect when "on the hunt"
It's funny you should mention that as most of my characters I stick around the place are at foot level. I'll have to start taking advantage of my height. Thanks for the tip!
You (relatively) recently started BUNKWAAcomics: are you able to give a bit of insight as to its birth and possible future for both yourself and it?
A little while ago I decided to look back at to when I was kid and tried to remember thing I used to do. I dug through old boxes and found a stack of old comics I had made.
Not having seen them for 20 years I surprised myself at how good they were! I realised a had a natural sense of composition, timing and story.
It was at that moment I decided to become a comic book creator.
I disappeared in to the bush recently to write scripts for all three parts of the comic. It's my Star Wars Trilogy, I guess. It deals with my angst for the world in a humerous way. It Keeps me sane
In 5 words how would you describe the world of Bunkwaa
Interdimensional
Psychedelic
Cute
Cuddly Clawed
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Huge thanks to the man known as Bunkwaa for not only sharing his time and allowing reproduction of some of his works! (and it would be remiss not to mention the fantastic t-shirt of Voyage to the Moon worn for this photo!)
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