Martha Cooper

American documentary photographer Martha Cooper is best known for documenting the 1970-1980's NY graffiti scene. 

Her father was a photographer who went out on shooting adventures with his little girl. Later in life she earned degrees in art and anthropology.

In the 60's Cooper worked as a photography intern for National Geographic magazine.

In the 1970's she was a photojournalist for the New York Post. When she was photographing unsupervised children's play in the Lower East Side, a boy called HE3 showed her his sketchbook and asked her why she didn't photograph graffiti.  The boy introduced her to Dondi White, who was so interesting that she became obsessed with graffiti just because of him. Dondi was the first artist she accompanied on a writing tour. Later on she followed Lady Pink, Shy 147 and Seen UA on their lay ups, rewarding them with pictures of their masterpieces.

Subway graffiti perfectly combined her interests in art and anthropology. In the 80's Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper published Subway Art, the classic groundbreaking book illustrating the graffiti subculture.  Their pictures show the pieces in different contexts.

This lady was one of the first to follow the intriguing secretive urban art scene. No wonder her work has been published in books, journals and magazines as Vibe, Smithsonian, National History and National Geographic magazine and have been exhibited in museums and galleries.

Specialized in art and anthropology, her photos breathe her passion....

Publications:

Subway Art, Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant, 1984, Thames and Hudson London

Subway Art, the 25th anniversary edition, ISBN 13 978-050051452

RIP: New York Spray can Memorials, Thames and Hudson, 1994, 
ISBN 13 978-0500277768

Hip Hop files: photographs 1979-1984, From here to Fame, 2004, ISBN 3-937946055

Street Play, From Here to fame, 2005, ISBN 978-3937946160

We B*Girlz, Powerhouse cultural entertainment books, 2005, ISBN 13- 978-1576872697

Going Postal, Mark Batty Publisher, 2009, ISBN 13 978-0979966651

Name tagging, Mark Batty Publisher, 2010, ISBN 13 978-098190067

Tokyo Tattoo 1970, Dokument Press 2012, ISBN 13 978-9185639274

Links:

http://www.12ozprophet.com/index.php/martha_cooper/ 
http://www.bgirlz.com/ 
http://www.kodakgirl.com/ 
http://www.nycitysnaps.com/