1981年的一天，玛莎·库珀(MARTHA COOPER)拿着相机在纽约地铁上，考虑到当时的犯罪率，这样的举动并不可取。无论如何，她的柯达彩色64胶卷的低ISO将使它无法在汽车在地下时拍摄任何照片。但是，当地铁进入白天，警察站在涂鸦标签框的主题是不可抗拒的。她还敢向警察要照片吗?因为在地铁上拍照是违法的，所以不建议这么做，所以她就这么做了。但她必须站起来接受。”幸运的是，我打到了。任务完成玛莎·库珀今天说。这位摄影记者最出名的是她对70年代末开始的纽约涂鸦文化圈爆发的记录。库珀收集并整理了她的经历和遭遇，创作了一本合作的书，这本书已经成为涂鸦写作的圣典，名为《地铁艺术》。 Which in turn inspired young artists all over the world to spread this urban art movement. In the course of the cultural insurgencies of the 1960s, Cooper earned an art degree from Grinell College Iowa, taught English as a volunteer for the Peace Corps in Thailand and traveled from Bangkok to London by motorcycle to receive a diploma at Oxford. Upon her return to New York she secured a position at the New York Post in 1977 using her commute to scout for pictures. Longing for adventure, she’d explore the neighborhoods, taking pictures of kids playing makeshift games on the streets. This was when she came across graffiti and some members of it’s community. Foremost a young kid, who showed her to some art around the neighborhood, explained a few pieces, their artistic values and some lingo, finally asking her if she wanted to meet „the King“. Soon after, she was introduced to world class sprayer Dondi, the first artist Cooper decided to shadow, taking pictures of him tagging New York. Cooper quickly understood that she had stumbled upon a vivid street culture and became an eager student of the writers she befriended. After many early mornings of waiting for hours to get the right shot of moving trains, and many more acquaintances with graffiti legends such as Zephyr, Seen, Kase2 and Lady Pink, Cooper and fellow photographer Henry Chalfant published „Subway Art“ in 1984. Many have claimed on numerous occasions that this book has changed the course of art history in our world. Following this book, Cooper has authored several more collections documenting the urban art developments in New York including „Hip Hop Files: Photographs 1979-1984“ and „New York State of Mind“. Keeping up with the tags, walls and trains of New York and the street art scene all around the world still continues to be her endeavor, whether she is documenting the Wynwood Walls project in Miami as their official photographer, working with graffiti artists in collaborational exhibitions or just plain instagraming her daily encounters with this passion. The times have changed and street art is ever-evolving. Many artists all around the world are now taking parts of Coopers photographs and basing their art on them. Sections of different shots are being cut out and incorporated into other pieces of art. This kind of synergy has led to many successful exhibitions including the „Martha Cooper:Remix“ exhibition in the Carmichael Gallery in Los Angeles. The Wynwood Walls project in Miami has been a treat for Cooper since it began in 2009. Documenting the metamorphosis of this warehouse district is what she refers to as a „dream assignment“. Her pictures provide an invaluable view behind the scenes of the making of urban graffiti murals. Martha Cooper has been inseparable from the street art scenes of the world for more than thirty years and her work has been seminal to the development in urban art. She has seen it grow from an underground burgeoning movement, to the largest art movement in the world - always taking shots along the way. instagram.com/marthacoopergram 57
