As is normal, each writer takes pictures to immortalize their pieces, pictures that once gave life to many magazines. With the advance of technology and consumer electronics, video cameras gave way to some videos of writers or crews in VHS format, and later to countless DVDs. Until today, the Internet along with free video and photo platforms, have brought us to a time when everything is consumed online, with publications of all kinds on a daily basis.

For a few years now we have seen how many of the physical magazines have come to an end. Apps like Instagram where writers from all over the world upload pieces, spotters who capture running trains the same or the next day of painting them, or anyone with a smartphone, make getting unpublished material a difficult task.

As can be seen, in recent years the creation of editorial projects in book format has increased significantly. The saturation of content on the net has led writers, crews, photographers and artists in general to create more personal projects on paper. Giving rise to more personal content, unpublished stories and material collected throughout his career.

The Boom of the books has arrived, and this is how other related projects arise. At System Boys, we like to support initiatives related to graffiti such as  Mission Press. We have had the opportunity to speak with them and this is what they have told us:

What is Mission Press, what does it offer?

Mission Press is an independent publisher that was born in June 2022. In addition to editorial projects about graffiti and photography, we try to launch other types of proposals that we find interesting, such as clothing or works created through different media. The mission is to promote the work of contemporary artists, working together, preserving their authenticity and attitude.

The publishing house offers books, fanzines, clothing and other items for collection and enjoyment. Focused on creating limited and quality products.

SCARS x Ostion

How did the idea of creating the editorial come about?

We are Pakito Ponko and Tyson Maraca, together we founded  Mission Press. The publishing house was born when we finished our graphic design studies. During our studies, we both discovered analogue photography, where we really got into it. Before finishing university, we already began to launch our first projects, some of them editorials such as “La Luce Nel Buio” by Tyson and “Scars” by the writer Ostion, as well as several t-shirts.

One of the main reasons why we created the publishing house was the ambition to self-publish through a platform such as Mission. Being able to collaborate with talented artists and promote their work with original projects was another of the fundamental factors.

The idea of creating the publishing house went hand in hand with renting a place where to start holding small exhibitions and collaborations, thus combining the two concepts, project and exhibition. But to make a long story short: the budget for a gallery was getting out of hand. In the end, we opted to create a small publishing house that better suited our budget at the time.

Pieza cerámica x Ostion

The theme of our material has always been related to graffiti, photography and nightlife. Therefore, as soon as we took the first steps to define our line, we knew that graffiti would be the main element.

As anyone who has ever painted knows, what you see is only a small part of everything that happens. Through Mission we try to bring to light a small part of what each writer experiences and wants to show… or not.

Urbano x Tyson Maraca

What are the projects carried out so far?

The first project we launched was the “Jump The Fence” t-shirt with the writer Klenz. With this project, the idea was to begin generating the necessary capital to be able to develop the following ones that we would launch together with him, such as “Siete Cien” and another editorial project that is to come. In parallel, we collaborated again with Ostion, with whom we created a ceramic piece. And at the moment, the last two editorial projects are “Urbano” and “Barcelona 22′ 23” by Tyson Maraca.
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Jump The Fence & Siete Cien x KLENZ

What relationship do you have with the writers/artists?

Since we were young we have grown up with writers, since, directly or indirectly, we have both been in constant relationship with graffiti. We have always had a relationship with them, most of them were friends, acquaintances or almost family. This has allowed us to develop projects in the most natural way possible.

Barcelona 22’ 23′ x Tyson Maraca

Future projects?

This last year has been quite chaotic, due to all the movements in our locations we have had problems maintaining constant contact. But now that the dust has settled, we are ready to continue moving forward with the project.

We are contacting different writers or artists with works of interest to our taste, in order to continue producing. We also leave the door open to collaboration proposals. So if you have something in mind, do not hesitate to contact us and send us an email to hey@missionpress.es.

The main intention is to continue working in the editorial field, but, as you can see in our production, any type of project is welcome.

Finally, we thank the SystemBoys team for making this short interview possible.