February 23, 2017
"BODEGA ESSENTIALS"
by Hefster
Joe Ficalora grew up in Bushwick, Brooklyn, but doesn't have a lot good to say about the experience—the streets were dirty and he wasn't allowed outside, then at age 12 his father was knifed. He told the NY Times that the death of his mother in 2011 was devastating and with everything about the neighborhood and its graffiti covered walls reminding Joe of her, he decided to do something about it. In 2012 he started what become the Bushwick Collective and organized the first Bushwick Block Party, little by little gaining the support and involvement of a cast of international artists. For the fifth annual Block Party in June 2016 Jamie Mitchel Kosse, aka Jamie Hef or Hefster, painted this tongue-in-cheek play on an assortment of munchie essentials (including his signature 'Hefritos') that led @thaloveofgraff to dubb the work at St Nicholas and Flushing Avenues, "Bodega Essentials." @jamiehef @thebushwickcollective