Justin Rollins on trauma, therapy, and making peace with his dark past

Justin Rollins was just 11-years old when he first graffitied his tag on the nearest bridge where he lived in South London using a whiteboard marker.

From there he grew on to becoming the leader of one of South London’s most violent graffiti gangs.
The audience were taken on a heart wrenching journey through South London in the 90s where Mr Rollins was subjected to racism, neglect and his subsequent involvement in graffiti crews.

He talked about how he wrote The Lost Boyz – A Dark Side of Graffiti that was published in 2011, which has since been used as a text for sociology and criminology degrees at universities in the UK.

Speaking at the Gibunco Gibraltar Literary Festival, Mr Rollins talked about how he climbed down from his bedroom window and went to the nearest train station.

“Putting his life” in these older kids’ hands, all he knew was that that train was going to London Victoria, and his tag, Fes, was “going into the big city” and that the whole was going to “know” him.

Coming from a traumatic childhood, Mr Rollins was subjected to racism as he came from a mixed-race family; he was bitten by a Doberman at the age of three and was strangled with a fishing wire at the age of five while with a childminder.

He took to the streets and met other boys his age who also came from dysfunctional families.

He soon met Joe, whose tag was Baf, and they became fast friends.

Mr Rollins changed his tag to 706 and together with Baf they formed the graffiti crew Warriorz, or WZ.
“Looking back now, WZ, it was like turning into a family, a brotherhood, a family that I craved,” Mr Rollins said.

“And even though it's become chaotic, that is what we craved, and the more chaotic WZ became, the more trapped you become in that lifestyle.”

As they grew their tags were “lined” by a rival crew, which he described as the “ultimate form of disrespect”.

The rivalling WZ and WK gangs came head-to-head in an altercation involving over 30 youngsters.

Mr Rollins picked up a concrete block and hit someone he knew and the 14-year old returned home to people cheering him on and praising him.

“This was all the praise that I needed but deep down I was a scared kid,” he said.

Shortly after this incident he was to serve a four-month sentence at Feltham Young Offenders Institute for stealing jewellery.

It was during his second stint behind bars that he called his friend Joe and was told that his friend was found dead the previous day behind the shops in New Malden.

Back on the streets Mr Rollins’ mental health started to deteriorate.

He was once again sentenced to four years in jail after he attacked someone on the underground with a meat cleaver.

Mr Rollins’ mental health spiralled and when he came out of jail he began to seek therapy.

He was diagnosed with ADHD, OCD but also Complex PTSD, for which he underwent EDMR therapy.

After his book was picked up by a university, he started talking about his teenage years at universities, schools and prisons.

Mr Rollins launched Mural Maestro, a company tasked with painting murals across the UK’s prisons.

Speaking to the audience in Gibraltar, Mr Rollins said it was the therapy that helped him to turn his life around and help him make peace with his dark past.