Cleo Wade is an American artist and poet who's been known to write her poetry on the sides of multi-storey buildings. Just last year she installed an 8-metre-high love-poem called Respect in her birthplace of New Orleans. She has a lot to say - Cleo is an activist for gender and race equality, sits on the board of the National Black Theater in Harlem, she's a champion for children's education and rights, and was recently in rural Vietnam looking into climate change. Lynn Freeman spoke to Cleo on the eve of her appearance at Semi Permanent 2016 in Auckland.