WAONE: On 90s Graffiti, Spiritual Practices, and How Not to Lose Yourself Between Success and Time

The guest of this episode is WAONE, a Ukrainian artist whose practice grew out of graffiti and today spans monumental painting, murals, graphics, and digital art. In this conversation, we explore his journey from early illegal tags to large-scale commissions across different countries, and how the language of street art, the perception of urban space, and his own visibility have evolved over time.

WAONE shares how spiritual practices and meditation gradually became not a separate part of life, but a lens through which he sees the world—shaping compositions, working with symbols, and taking responsibility for images seen daily by thousands of people. We discuss success and identity, what it means to be a Ukrainian artist with a recognizable style in a global context, and how not to lose yourself between market expectations, public attention, and personal ethical boundaries during wartime.

We also talk about the shift from walls to screens: digital works, new formats of collaboration, and charitable and collaborative projects that connect art with support for Ukraine and the rethinking of urban space. This episode is about the journey from underground graffiti to complex visual worlds, about inner discipline and spirituality, the artist’s responsibility to society, and art as a practice that responds to war without being reduced to it.