DEKO_UNO

During his adolescence, Benito Mendoza volunteered to spray paint the symbol that was used by his neighborhood gang on the south side of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The Odessa American reports Mendoza used that excuse as a teenager to exit gang activities and refine his spray painting craft. As a 31-year-old, Mendoza estimated he has easily spray painted more than 100 murals in the United States and Mexico.” I grew up in the south side of Juarez,” Mendoza said through translation “It was a dangerous neighborhood and there were a lot of gangs. In my neighborhood, there was a particular gang or group of people that controlled it. You had to mark your territory and that’s where I learned about graffiti.”