Martha Cooper - Hip Hop Files - 2004

Over seventy years old and after forty years of documenting the streets and the ephemeral pieces that adorn them, Martha Cooper continues to immortalize graffiti and more generally street art with as much passion as ever. A glance at the work of a photographer who has frozen moments and colors destined to disappear.

This is the cycle of graffiti and street art: it appears on a wall, a roof, or even a subway before being cleaned up or covered by another piece. And naturally, this ephemeral approach has always been greatly linked to photography, which allows it to exist beyond its brief physical presence. Among the people who have immortalized these scenes, Martha Cooper is a reference.
Born in Baltimore in 1942 and after studying the arts, she devoted herself to photography and would notably work for National Geographic. It was in the 1970s that she began to take an interest in and capture the world of graffiti in New York, while working on a commission for the New York Post. In 1984, she teamed up with photographer Henry Chalfant and together they released a book titled Subway Art.
From the beginnings with Seen, Dondi, Zephyr, Blade One, Cope and Futura, through to the current scene, today as always, she still pursues colors and lines with the same enthusiasm.