martha cooper

I recently learned about a photojournalist Martha Cooper who documented the NY graffiti scene of the 1970s and '80s.  While she was working at New York Post, she began taking photos of children in her New York city neighborhood on her return home. One day she met a young kid named Edwin who helped expose her to some of the graffiti around her neighborhood.  Edwin helped to explain to her that Graffiti is an art form and that each artist was actually writing his/her nickname. Edwin then proceeded to tell of the Graffiti King and asked if she would like to meet him.  This is when Martha met the legendary Dondi.  He was the first one who allowed her to accompany him; while Dondi was tagging she would take photos of his art.  In the 1980s she put together a book of photos illustrating the Graffiti subculture called Subway Art and Hip Hop Files.  Here are some of the pictures:

While I was browsing through her photo books, this picture below came across, and it felt strangely familiar...  No, not because this was like my childhood...  I thought maybe I just saw this picture somewhere. 

But then, my mystery was finally solved by surprise today.  As I was leaving work, I looked up and gasped...  It's the wall right in front of my work in SoHo. 

Now that's pretty cool, I thought.  I was always wondering who these kids were...