South Tucson’s walls came alive over the weekend as graffiti artists and muralists from across the region gathered for the third annual Rock the Spot, a four-day street art event that transforms blank spaces into bursts of color and creativity.

The festival, founded by Mexican-Iranian artist Joshua “Demo” Behshad, celebrates graffiti as an art form and brings together crews from around the country to paint, collaborate and honor the city’s vibrant street culture.

Rock the Spot held its first event three years ago. It was created to honor Albert Soto, Behshad’s late friend and mentor.

Soto served as the arts administrator for the Tucson Pima Arts Council and used the position to promote the efforts of struggling young artists. He helped them seek out grant funding, developed opportunities to display their work to the public and provided them with encouragement and advice.

A champion of graffiti art in Tucson in the 1990s and early 2000s, Soto scouted walls, commissioned murals, worked with the city and helped defuse tensions with the anti-graffiti task force.

Originally scheduled for Oct. 9–12, Rock the Spot had its fair share of setbacks this year. It was first postponed due to Hurricane Priscilla, then forced to move locations after its new dates coincided with Tucson Meet Yourself.

Organizers embraced the chaos and pivoted, setting up shop at an abandoned school near South Seventh Avenue between West 37th and 38th streets. They rebranded their social media messaging,, inviting followers to come check out "South Tucson Street Yourself."

“We’ve been rained out, and we’ve been kicked out, but you can’t stop us,” said organizer Behshad, who is also founder of APTKREW, a graffiti crew made up of more than 25 members that receives regular recognition for their work. “The beauty of it is it’s not meant to last, it’s meant to be enjoyed and be something that you take in and say that you can experience and wait for the next one.”

This year’s four-day event welcomed artists and crews including Behshad’s APTKREW, YPN CREW, DB ZOMBIES and more.

“This is like my high school reunion every year because I get to paint with guys that I’ve been painting with since 16 or 17 years old,” Behshad said. “My mother was a good mother and would go to the newspaper and get rolls of unused newspaper rolls, and would just put them out and me and all the kids from the apartment complex would go out and paint on these rolls of paper.”

Behshad, 51, said he considers himself more of a fan than an artist, as he loves seeing other artists’ work.

One of those artists, Austin Rogers, was back at Rock the Spot for a second year.

Standing atop a cherry picker on Thursday, Oct. 16, Rogers studied a wall, contemplating what he might paint on his next concrete canvas. This is Rogers’ second year at Rock the Spot, which he called a great opportunity for artists to showcase their craft.

“This is all (with) permission, people are just expressing themselves,” he said. “It’s very meditative.”

Rogers, 33, said he has connected with many others through the art and graffiti community.

“It’s a very interesting subculture, and a lot of my best friends I met through this kind of environment,” he said.

Arthur Welch came to Rock the Spot on Thursday's opening day, hoping to watch the beginning phases of the designs. Participating artists spend the first day of the event cleaning the previous year’s art in preparation for their new pieces.

“On Saturday you see everything come together,” he said. “That’s when the food trucks are around and it’s more of an event.”

Welch grew up with many of the participating artists and believes the event is important to Tucson.

“Some of this stuff is directly for our city, like the Native American culture, the Hispanic culture,” Welch said. “I feel like every city has their own style, but (Tucson is) kind of like a melting pot, there’s always going to be similarities.”

Welch said many of Rock the Spot’s vendors create their own goods, recalling an artist who makes furniture out of old spray cans.

As artists prepped their walls and vendors readied for the weekend ahead, Behshad reflected on the growing community behind Rock the Spot and the energy that fuels it each year.

“The art is so much bigger than me, I’m honored to have any part of it and to help push it in any way,” said Behshad.

Trevor Gribble is a journalism major at the University of Arizona and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact him at tjgribble@arizona.edu.

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