Materials & Process Overview: She Did Not Know
Part of the Rebel Romeo Collector Edition series 🌹🗡️
This work began with a 1.2m x 1m professional box canvas, the same model I used for Never Settle. What followed was a labour-intensive process designed to remove all trace of the original canvas texture and transform the surface into something closer to an urban structure than a gallery piece.
Using layers of joint filler and acrylic paint, I repeatedly coated and sanded the surface until a smooth, even finish was achieved. This wasn’t just for aesthetics, it was a deliberate decision to match the texture and feel of the electrical box where the original graffiti first appeared in early 2017.
From there, I applied 1mm model masking tape to replicate the panel lines of the actual box on Rowlands Road. These were built up using more filler, and once the tape was removed, the piece retained authentic recessed lines to define the panels. The entire canvas was then coated with Plastikote green spray paint, chosen not to match perfectly, but to intentionally stylise the piece with a graphic, comic-book tone.
The line work and finishing touches were done using Molotow paint pens, a favourite in the street art world for their durability and precision. I also incorporated cel-shading in black Molotow marker to give the piece visual depth and a hand-inked, illustrative quality.
To finish, I applied several layers of NeverWet waterproofing spray. This wasn’t just a protective sealant, it also symbolically links back to the invisible stencil I originally sprayed on the pavement in front of the electrical box using the same NeverWet product, where her name would only appear in the rain.
This canvas is not a reinterpretation, it’s a physical preservation of my very first graffiti artwork as Rebel Romeo. It’s a piece that not only documents where the story began but carries layers of real-world history, coded emotion, and technical homage to the streets where it was born.
Faux Street Scene Installation
To display the piece as it was first seen on the streets of Worthing, I created a full recreation of the original location as part of the CTRL ALT CREATE exhibition.
• Canvas housing: The box that wrapped around the canvas was built using a wooden frame clad with plasterboard, cut and painted to match the green tone of the electrical box.
• Wall backdrop: Behind the canvas, I built a faux brick wall from recycled insulation board. The texture was formed using strips of cardboard to create brick shapes, which were then coated with joint filler and painted to simulate weathered masonry.
• Street sign: The Rowlands Road sign was assembled using upcycled car registration plates, repurposed and hand-painted to resemble a real street sign.
All elements were made from either recycled or upcycled materials, chosen not only to stay true to the DIY spirit of the original graffiti but to reflect the resourcefulness that defined Rebel Romeo’s early days. The full installation stood outside the gallery window, facing the street — a return to its roots, in public view, and back where it began.
She Did Not Know
A Rebel Romeo Origin Story
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The First Words
In the final months of 2016, my life was split in two.
I had recently married, a choice I made because it felt like the right thing to do.
I had two young children and a life already in motion.
But my heart had been somewhere else.
That September, I made a hard decision and cut contact with someone I cared deeply about.
Someone I once thought I might run away with.
I blocked her.
I buried the feelings.
But they didn’t stay buried for long.
By December, the weight of what I had done was building.
So on the 6th of December 2016, I created an anonymous Instagram account.
A quiet corner of the internet where I could speak freely…
not to her directly, but always about her.
On January 8th, 2017, while in Manila, I wrote:
“She did not know the sky loved her so, for when it rained it rained for her.”
I titled it 🌼 and the rain.
It stayed with me.
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The First Stencil
By early spring, I was back in Worthing.
The grief in me had grown louder.
In April, my father passed.
And by July, my marriage, which had already been strained, came to an end.
It hadn’t been a happy or healthy relationship for some time,
and staying had felt like the right thing at the time for my kids.
But the separation brought everything I had been holding back to the surface.
Everything I hadn’t said.
I took the quote from my post and hand-cut it into a stencil.
Each letter was carved slowly, methodically, it felt like therapy.
I also made a second stencil, one with her name.
That one was meant for the pavement.
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The Night It Happened
I planned everything.
Packed a backpack with gloves, duct tape, spray paint.
Rolled up the stencils and laid out my clothes next to the bed.
I set my alarm for 4am.
When it rang, the temptation to stay in bed was strong.
It was cold. I was exhausted.
But I was determined.
I drove through the sleeping town, parked near Rowlands Road, and waited.
I kept imagining police cars catching me in the act.
My heart pounded.
Eventually, I got out.
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The electrical box stood waiting…
I taped the stencil in place. My hands shook.
Every few seconds I looked over my shoulder, expecting someone.
But no one came.
I sprayed the words:
“She did not know the sky loved her so…”
Next to it, I added a ballerina holding an umbrella.
A quiet nod to the girl it was written for, and the emotion behind it.
Then I laid down the second stencil, the one with her name, and sprayed it with a two-step hydrophobic spray called NeverWet.
The idea was simple and poetic:
her name would only appear when it rained, revealed in dry relief.
I returned 30 minutes later to apply the second coat.
For a while, it worked.
But over time, that part of the piece faded.
Most public photos never captured it.
Still, the core message remained.
It became my first graffiti artwork.
And the beginning of Rebel Romeo.
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The Exhibition
In 2025, I brought it all back,
not just as a canvas, but as a full scene.
For the CTRL ALT CREATE exhibition at Colonnade House,
I recreated the electrical box using plasterboard,
painted to match the original.
I rebuilt the wall, even included the Rowlands Road street sign.
I wanted to take people back to that night,
to the weight of it, the secrecy,
and the beauty that came from grief and love colliding.
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What It Meant
She Did Not Know began in silence.
In heartbreak.
In the in-between spaces of two lives diverging.
It’s where I first turned private emotion into public expression.
Where the words I couldn’t say out loud
found their way into the world,
etched in aerosol,
felt in rain.
It’s not just the first Rebel Romeo piece.
It’s the root of the whole story.
