A minute with: Christos Kakoulli, Stencil artist

Where do you live and with whom?
I live in Xylophagou with my family – my wife and our son

What did you have for breakfast?
Usually, I am not the morning type, but a freddo espresso is just what I need to wake up in the morning

Describe your perfect day
The perfect day for me is to go to my studio and paint until 4pm when the kid comes from school and then play games with him until he goes to bed. And then late at night, around midnight, if I have something to say, I say it on the walls with my paints.

Best book ever read? Why?
To Kastro Mas (Our Castle) is a book I read when I was a child and I still do, about two kids who wanted to cross the buffer zone and go to the occupied areas, and they manage to do it despite all the adverse conditions.

Best childhood memory?
When I held a spray can in my hands for the first time. It is a memory I cannot forget, and it changed my life. At age 12, I realised what I wanted to do and achieve as an artist.

What is always in your fridge?
A beer can for when I am resting but also as a thank you to myself after a creating graffiti or a message.

What music are you listening to in the car at the moment?
Greek rap music. For me rap is like poetry set to music with a lot of meaning and images.

What’s your spirit animal?
I would say that my spirit animal is a panda bear. It is black and white and Asian. It is a bear that wins against racism. Due to its colour and origin, it becomes a message against racism.

What are you most proud of?
Of my child. He is the best painting I have ever created, and I can only feel pride and a lot of love watching him grow and develop.

What movie scene has really stayed with you?
The whole Forrest Gump movie, not just one scene. This movie has always moved me.

If you could pick anyone at all (alive or dead) to go out for the evening with, who would it be?
Banksy, I would like to learn from him because he is one of the artistic geniuses in the world, and the messages he sends are all special.

If you could time travel when/where would you go?
I would travel back in time and would tell myself not to do the things I have so regretted that they still keep me up at night.

What is your greatest fear?
To lose my art and my ideas. I want to remain authentic from the time I started until the end.

What would you say to your 18-year-old self?
Stay true and honest. Only this way can you tame that thing we call life.

Name the one thing that would stop you dating someone
If someone is racist and fascist and our opinions clash.

If the world is ending in 24 hours what would you do?
I would hug my family until the end.