Tiago Ishiyama (1983-2022)

Visual artist, graffiti artist, graphic designer, illustrator, art educator and art director, in addition to an incredible human being, Ishiyama was baptized in the streets of São Paulo as 8 or 80.
It manifested itself in a strong and large scale through the streets of ABC Paulista, and soon the brand of this suburban youth spread to the most targeted and dangerous places in greater São Paulo.
His art was a unique blend of marginal and academic classic styles, and was heavily influenced by Asian spiritual culture. According to Ishiyama, the very strong experiences he lived through the streets of the world, was vital fuel for the creative and poetic process of his works.
Together with the group “Avante o colectivo”, he worked as an art educator in the largest community in São Paulo – the favela of Heliópolis. There, he played thousands of children in graffiti and hip hop workshops.
It is important to remember that 8 or 80 is not just a signature or brand scattered throughout the city. But his name became a public manifesto of popular Brazilian activism, which calls into question the strong social contrast in the country where he lives, Brazil.
“All of us Brazilians are forced to live this constant 8 or 80 (all or nothing) that surrounds us, from the slum dweller who goes to the center to work, or find money to survive, to the owner of a mansion who needs to use an armored car and guards to also survive in this gray land, territory where difference segregates our people more every day.”