Colleagues describe Janny as fiercely loyal — the “steel” in her name showing in quiet ways. When a partner company in Mato Grosso went bankrupt during the pandemic, leaving 200 seasonal workers unpaid, Janny used her own savings to cover three months of salaries. “It wasn’t charity,” she insists. “Those workers knew the land better than any agronomist I could hire later. Keeping them was the smart business move.”
But her softer side emerges in small rituals: sending handwritten notes in Portuguese to elderly Brazilian clients, celebrating Chinese New Year with her Shanghai team by making jiaozi from her grandmother’s recipe, and always carrying two sets of business cards — one with her name in Latin script, one in Hanzi.
What began as a loose collective of muralists, sneaker‑customizers, and break‑dancers quickly coalesced into a more organized entity, now colloquially known as the Liu Gang. Despite the name’s martial‑arts overtones, the group is far from a criminal organization in the traditional sense. Instead, it operates as a cultural syndicate with three core objectives:
| Pillar | What It Means | Typical Activities | |--------|---------------|--------------------| | Art | Produce large‑scale visual works that reclaim neglected public spaces. | Night‑time mural projects, pop‑up installations, collaborative zine releases. | | Sound | Amplify underground music scenes that fuse global rhythms. | Open‑mic nights, secret warehouse raves, curated playlists on streaming platforms. | | Community | Build grassroots networks that provide resources for marginalized youth. | Free skate‑boarding lessons, design workshops, food‑drive pop‑ups. | janny costa liu gang
Members identify themselves with a stylized L badge—a simple, angular glyph that Janny designed herself, inspired by the ancient Chinese character for “flow” (流). The badge appears on jackets, skateboard decks, and even on the back of the group’s limited‑edition sneakers.
| Business Line | Primary Products/Services | Revenue (2023 est.) | Main Distribution Channels | |---------------|---------------------------|---------------------|----------------------------| | Synthetic Opioids | Fentanyl‑base, carfentanil, novel analogues | $38 M | Hidden compartments in freight containers; “coffee shop” front stores | | Cyber‑Financial Crime | Ransomware campaigns, crypto‑mixing, business‑email‑compromise (BEC) scams | $27 M | Dark‑web marketplaces, encrypted messaging apps (Telegram, Signal) | | Wildlife Trafficking | Pangolin scales, ivory, exotic reptiles | $13 M | Smuggling via cargo ships from Southeast Asia to EU ports; use of “pet‑store” front businesses | | Arms Smuggling | Small‑arms, ammunition, “ghost guns” kits | $8 M | Black‑market brokers in the Balkans; shipments concealed in industrial equipment | | Money Laundering & Real‑Estate | Front companies (restaurants, construction) | $26 M | Real‑estate purchases in Vancouver, Miami, and Berlin; shell corporations in the British Virgin Islands |
All figures are based on a joint analysis by the U.S. DEA, Europol, and Interpol, compiled from seized financial records, undercover operations, and open‑source intelligence. Colleagues describe Janny as fiercely loyal — the
The most striking convergence between Liu Gang and Janny Costa is the theme of confinement and interaction with the "Machine."
1. The Screen as Prison/Canvas: Liu Gang’s figures often appear trapped behind wire mesh or drawn lines, symbolizing the constraints of a bureaucratic or urbanized society. Similarly, Janny Costa’s persona exists behind the "screen." She is accessible yet untouchable. Both figures present a version of humanity that is mediated by technology—one by the brushstroke of industrialization, the other by the bandwidth of the internet.
2. The Mask of Anonymity: Liu Gang’s figures often lack distinct faces, representing the loss of self in the collective. Paradoxically, Janny Costa, despite showing her face, also employs a "mask"—the persona. The separation between the private individual and the public performer acts as a shield, much like the grid lines in Liu Gang’s work protect the viewer from the messy reality of the human soul. The most striking convergence between Liu Gang and
3. Economic Agency: Both figures highlight the economics of the body. Liu Gang’s early career was defined by the tension between artistic expression and the commercial/ political constraints of his environment. Costa’s career is defined by the direct monetization of the gaze. Both demonstrate that in the modern era, the body is inextricably linked to capital—whether it is the cultural capital of the art world or the financial capital of the subscription economy.
Janny Costa Liu first entered the public eye in the early 2010s, when a series of graffiti tags bearing the moniker “LC” began to appear on abandoned warehouses, subway tunnels, and the concrete walls of the city’s most densely populated districts. A former graphic design student at the Metropolitan Institute of Arts, Janny combined her training in visual storytelling with a restless energy that soon attracted a small crew of like‑minded creators.
Her background is a tapestry of cultures: born to a Portuguese‑Brazilian mother and a Taiwanese father, Janny grew up bilingual in Lisbon and Taipei before moving to the United States at age twelve. The resulting hybrid identity gave her a unique perspective on the urban landscape—a place where borders blur, and where street culture can serve as a lingua franca for the disenchanted.