Martha Cooper | Boom!Salina
September 14 - October 23, 2022
Boom! Salina, Guest Photographer
See Martha's iconic work at Salina Art Center and get a daily update of her digital documentation of artists Tony “Rubin” Sjömans, TelmoMiel, Mona Caron, Mantra, and Joe Iurato & Logan Hicks as they create new work during Boom! Salina. Boom! Salina is an annual mural festival in the heart of downtown Salina, KS. The larger vision is to bring in street artists and muralists from around the world to enhance the visual landscape of our city. The festival is funded by private and crowd-sourced donors that share a creative hunger to be bold and inspiring. Boom! Salina is backed by the Salina Kanvas Project.
Martha Cooper is a documentary photographer who has specialized in shooting urban vernacular art and architecture for over forty years. In 1977, Martha moved from Rhode Island to New York City and worked as the first female staff photographer at the NY Post for three years. During that time she began to document graffiti and B-Boying, subjects that led to her extensive coverage of early Hip Hop as it emerged from the Bronx. These photos, published worldwide, helped make Hip Hop the predominant international youth movement it is today.
Photo of Martha Cooper with the notorious 1UP crew at a wall they painted for her at Urban Spree in Berlin in 2017 | Nika Kramer
Programming
Martha Cooper: A Picture Story Film
Wednesday, Oct 12 | 5:30 PM | $6
Film at the Art Center Cinema & Discussion at Salina Art Center
Film and artist panel discussion with Martha Cooper and BOOM! Salina muralists.FILM SYNOPSIS
Martha Cooper is an unexpected icon of the street art movement - a tiny, grey-haired figure running alongside crews of masked graffiti artists. In the 1970’s, as the boroughs of New York City burned, she worked as a photographer for the New York Post, seeking images of creativity and play where others saw crime and poverty. As a result, she captured some of the first images of New York graffiti, at a time when the city had declared war on this new culture. Martha and her co-author Henry Chalfant compiled these images into the book Subway Art. However, the commercial failure of the book forced Martha to leave graffiti behind, moving on to document many other hidden cultures of New York. 20 years later Martha discovers she has become a legend of the graffiti world - a culture that has now exploded into a global movement. Subway Art became one of the most sold - and stolen - art books of all time, photocopied and shared by graffiti artists for decades.At 75 years of age, Martha finds herself navigating a culture vastly changed. The small community born from struggle and adversity, has grown into a commercial industry fueled by the rise of social media. Now every new piece of street art is immediately uploaded, and crowds line up for selfies in front of popular works. Martha struggles to find her place in this new world, driven by a passion for capturing the creativity that helps people rise above their environment.
Murals of North Central Kansas
Thursday, Oct 13 | 12:15 - 12:45 PM | Art Center Cinema | FREE
Bring your lunch and join Hannah Crickman as she presents beautiful hidden murals around Kansas! Hannah has traveled Kansas and so far photographed over 50 murals for North Central Kansas Tourism.
