Biography: Martha Cooper is an American photojournalist born in the 1940s in Baltimore, Maryland where she picked up photography at the age of three. She is best known for documenting the New York City graffiti scene of the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1980s she put together a book of photos illustrating her Graffiti subculture called Subway Art.
Statement: "While not the first book on the subject, “Subway Art” has been considered graffiti’s New Testament since its release in 1984. Staking out subway stations and sneaking into the labyrinthine transit system’s yards and tunnels, the photographers Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant documented the early masterpieces and culture of renegade graffiti artists in the 1970s and ’80s who risked their lives to mark New York City’s rusty trains with their interlocking and animated nicknames". (New York Times)
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/showcase-5/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
"Some time around 1976 I started to take pictures of graffiti on the trains. I’d be living in New York since ’73 and saw them developing and thought they were amazing." -Henry Chalfant
http://arrestedmotion.com/2009/06/martha-cooper-henry-chalfant-interview-subway-art-25th-anniversary-edition-black-rat-press/
Background info: During the 1970s and 80s, photographers Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant captured the burgeoning New York City graffiti movement. 25 years and more than a half a million copies later, Chronicle Books is happy to offer their book Subway Art in a large-scale, deluxe format.
Connection: This connects to my urban theme because graffiti is a huge part of urban photography. It also captures the New york city environment which also creates that urban feel. I fell in love with this photo and the story of how the photographer developed this interest in graffiti art.
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