Moving Murals: Henry Chalfant & Martha Cooper's All City Graffiti Archive

These young artists from the city's outer boroughs, whose work—though often dismissed as vandalism—challenged contemporary fine arts standards, and became the visual component of the hip hop culture that was born on the streets of New York City. The original graffiti murals have inspired countless graffiti artists painting around the world. However, while their influence endures, the murals and tags themselves did not last long before the city wiped the subway cars clean or rival crews painted over them. Chalfant and Cooper's patience and determination in hunting down and capturing these ephemeral masterpieces on film gives a representative cross section of some of the best work by the most talented young artists who painted New York City’s subway cars in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Here you can see a "buffed" train car that was whitewashed by the city to cover the graffiti. (c) Henry Chalfant

Unlike Cooper, Chalfant photographed train murals for several years before any of the graffiti writers approached him. After seeing his photographs,







writers began to call Chalfant immediately after creating a throw up, or burner, giving him precise details on where and when to find their train. His Lower East Side photography studio became a meeting place for graffiti writers, and often there would be artists from different boroughs creating another kind of "all city" gathering. 

A burner with Fred and Barney from “The Flinstones” to commemorate the retirement Ski and Hicki—two transit officers who befriended the graffiti writers during this time of heightened law enforcement. c) Henry Chalfant