![]() “ morphed into street art, which is more legal permissible big walled murals, the word that people are using now,” says Cooper, “I see graffiti and street art being two separate cultures almost, but there is a big overlap. The art itself also changed as events like graffiti festivals were held around the world. In 1985, the Clean Train Movement began, where graffiti-covered subway cars were cleaned or totally replaced. “He just told me so many things about how it was done and I think he responded to the fact that I was seriously interested.”īy the mid to late-1980s, stricter anti-graffiti measures were implemented, including harsher penalties, restrictions on paint sale and an increased police presence. “Dondi was soft-spoken and articulate and could answer any question that I had,” she tells TIME. It was from there that she realized the world of graffiti not only had its own culture, but its own vocabulary and set of aesthetics. ![]() “It was like decoding some mysterious language.” Through HE3, Cooper was able to meet and photograph the legendary graffiti artist Dondi. “As soon as he explained that he was writing his nickname, it all fell into place,” she says. While driving around doing assignments for the Post, Cooper started a personal project, befriending a young graffiti artist tagging in the Bronx, who went by the nickname HE3. “I had never even understood that kids were writing their names on walls,” says Martha Cooper, “I don’t think that was generally known, people thought it was just random vandalism.” ![]() Many people just simply walked by and ignored this new art form, but Martha Cooper, a staff photographer for the New York Post at the time, was interested in gaining a deeper understanding of these graffiti and their authors. A dominant visual aspect of the day, graffiti widely spread around New York City at this time, with subways, building walls, almost anything being tagged by artists including Dondi, Seen, Lady Pink, Zephyr, and Revolt. To get an idea, watch the 1983 film Wild Style. Not only were cars, signs and clothing styles a time capsule of the era, but the city looked different: it was covered in graffiti. ![]() New York City in the 1970s and ’80s was very different than the city today. ![]()
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