Visual Noise: Walls Talk - TERP

**Visual Noise: Walls Talk** is back with Episode 18, and this time TRP613 and Urban Ninja head north to Sweden to talk with **TERP (@terpstreetart)** — a veteran of the international sticker art scene from **Umeå, northern Sweden**. TERP has been creating street art since around **2000**, originally working with stickers, stencils and paste-ups before eventually focusing heavily on stickers. For TERP, the sticker isn't just a piece of art — it's a way of interacting with the city and challenging the constant stream of advertising and commercial imagery that surrounds us. His approach to sticker art is particularly interesting because he sees stickers as a kind of **direct democracy**. They're inexpensive, easy to put up, and just as importantly, they're easy to remove. That temporary quality gives the work a different relationship with public space than traditional murals or permanent installations. TERP's artwork ranges from **funny and colourful designs to darker, strange and surreal imagery**. One example documented in Stockholm features a beautifully detailed, vintage-style pineapple illustration, while another TERP sticker uses a creepy vintage family scene with a horror/zombie twist. His work often has that distinctive mixture of old-school imagery, humour and weirdness that makes a sticker stand out when you encounter it on the street. Another huge part of TERP's career is **collaboration**. He's been deeply involved in sticker trades and has created dozens of collaborative designs with artists from around the world. His iconic **Molotov imagery** frequently gets incorporated into collaborations with other artists, creating a constantly evolving collection of TERP pieces. Being based in Umeå, a smaller city in northern Sweden, also played an important role in his development. TERP used the internet and international sticker trades to connect with artists outside Sweden and bring an international sticker culture back to his own city — helping introduce a medium that wasn't particularly common there when he started. His reach has definitely gone beyond Sweden. TERP was included in the **STICKERS** exhibition and reference book documenting hundreds of sticker artists from around the world, and he has participated in international street-art events, including the **2024 Zagreb Street Art Festival**, where artists from 44 countries were represented. TERP was also recognized as the **World Wide Street Sticker Award 2023 Artist of the Year**, another indication of the impact he's had on the international sticker community. In Episode 18, TRP613 and Urban Ninja get into TERP's history, his creative process, sticker trading, collaborations, the evolution of his art, and what it's like building an international network of artists through something as simple — and powerful — as a sticker. **From the streets of Umeå to sticker walls around the world, TERP has spent more than two decades proving that small art can make a big impact.** 🎙️ **Visual Noise: Walls Talk — Episode 18** **Hosted by TRP613 & Urban Ninja** **Featuring TERP — @terpstreetart, Sweden** Music credit: *“Funk Groove Music” by Alex Gus via* Pixabay Send us Fan Mail