When artist Nina Wright moved from rural Ohio to Oakland, she quickly realized that even in the progressive Bay Area, street art is very much a boy’s club. Tired of being one of the only women painting murals in the East Bay, Wright, who goes by her moniker, Girl Mobb, started teaching teenage girls how to make street art. “There’s hundreds of murals in this area, and only about 20 were done by female artists, which is just ridiculous,” says Wright. “I just wanted to figure out what I could do about it.” In April 2017, Graffiti Camp for Girls was born.
In weeklong workshops, taught by Wright and volunteer female artists, teenage girls learn how to wield a spray-paint can, plan a mural and execute the design. The first workshop took place in Berkeley, and while Wright expected some community backlash, the camp was an instant success. To date, Wright has hosted six graffiti camps across the Bay Area, resulting in six unique murals, including a sweet ice-cream–themed piece outside the Smitten headquarters in San Francisco and one that depicts a pack of zoo animals riding a BART train near MacArthur station in Oakland.
Photograph: Courtesy Nina Wright
The camp has become so popular that teens from as far away as England, France, Germany and Japan ask how they can sign up. In fact, after a camp in Santa Rosa in January, Wright heads to Cambodia, to teach local girls to paint with Bay Area swagger. “That’s what this is all about for me,” says Wright. “I’m finally hanging out with my female peers.”