DREGS:
NZ STREET ART DOCUMENTARY

"In October 2011, film-maker Karl Sheridan and artist Cinzah Merkens began exploring the people behind New Zealand's urban murals and graffiti art, conducting 22 interviews with 26 artists over 12 months, including on artists Jon Drypnz, Mica Still and BMD in Wellington. The resulting documentary, Dregs, premiered in Wellington in November last year. It is the first time a feature-length documentary had been made about Kiwi street art. "It hadn't been done before," says Sheridan, who also runs a shared studio and gallery called Monster Valley in Auckland. "Dregs was about uncovering a scene that hadn't been researched much by an outsider, and I thought it was important to give some insight to people who didn't really know the street art scene." Sheridan hopes that through the doco, viewers might gain a greater understanding of the street art community "and possibly not be as prejudice towards aerosol art".