MARTHA COOPER

Né à Baltimore en 1942
Travaille et réside à New York

Martha Cooper, une emblématique photographe de rue américaine, vit une vie que beaucoup pourrait envier. Depuis le début des années 1960, elle capture l’essence même de la Street Culture et de l’art à NYC, qui fut et qui est toujours le centre et le melting-pot de styles de vie divers et variés. Cooper commença petit, en prenant en photos ses voisins les plus proches, mais sa passion incommensurable pour la photographie de rue l’amena sur la route du succès et de la célébrité. Cela fait plus de quarante ans qu’elle capture l’art de la rue et sa passion pour la photographie n’a pas disparu même après une carrière si longue et laborieuse.

La première rencontre de l’artiste avec le Street Art et le graffiti eût lieu à la fin des années 1970 alors qu’elle travaillait sur un article pour le New York Post. Elle devait prendre des photos de personnes et d’enfants pour des articles spécialisés et c’est lors d’un de ces rendez-vous qu’elle rencontra un jeune Street Artist qui lui apprit l’art du graffiti et ses terminologies. Il lui montra par exemple plusieurs tags (qui sont les signatures des graffeurs), ce qui lui permit d’apprendre à repérer les noms à travers le travail artistique. Plus tard, Cooper fut présentée à des graffeurs célèbres des années 1970 et 1980, comme Dondi. Avant de rencontrer ces personnes, l’artiste ne savait pratiquement rien du Street Art. Dans une de ses interviews elle déclara : « Jusqu’à maintenant je n’avais jamais réellement compris comment ils avaient pu peindre d’aussi grandes pièces – recouvrant souvent un métro tout entier- en une nuit.  Ou comment ils pouvaient grimper jusqu’au sommet d’un wagon et peindre.» Après avoir observé de plus près les œuvres des Street Artists, Cooper devint fascinée par la subculture underground de NYC. Elle commença à faire des sessions de photos de nuit et prit les graffeurs directement pendant qu’ils travaillaient.

L’artiste était assoiffée de découvertes et d’aventures. Elle passait son temps dans les banlieues en ruines, les ghettos, les gares ferroviaires et les immeubles abandonnés, en attendant la nuit et la venue des Street Artists pour photographier leur travail. Au moment

Martha Cooper, an iconic American street photographer, lives the life that many would envy. Ever since the early 60s, she is capturing the essence of street culture and art in NYC, which was and still is the very center and  melting pot of various lifestyles. Cooper started small, shooting her closest neighborhoods, but her immeasurable passion for street photography set her on the road to success and fame. She has been capturing street art for more than forty years and her passion for photography hasn’t vanished even after such long and arduous career.

The artist’s first encounter with street art and graffiti happened in the late 70’s while she was working on a report for The New York Post. She was assigned to take photos of people and children for featured stories and during one of these assignments she met a young street artist who taught her about graffiti art and terminology. For example, he showed Cooper various graffiti tags (graffiti artist signatures), which make it possible to pin down the name behind the artwork. Later on, Cooper was introduced to famous graffiti artists of the 70s and the 80s, such as Dondi. Before meeting these people, the artist didn’t know almost anything about street art. She said in one of her interviews : Until then I had not really understood how they had been able to paint such large pieces — often covering an entire subway car — in one night. Or how they could climb up to the top of the train and paint. After the close observation of the street artists’ work, Cooper became fascinated with NYC underground subculture. She started to go for photo shoots at night and capture the graffiti artists directly while their work.

The artist was hungry for discoveries and adventures. She would spend her time at bombed-out neighborhoods, ghetto quarters, railway stations and abandoned buildings, waiting for the night and streets artists to come and resume their work. At the time she was about to finish her contract with New York Post in 1980, she wanted to dedicate herself primarily to her own photography and not photojournalism. Together with a fellow graffiti photographer Henry Chalfant, Cooper published a book on NYC street art, containing a plethora of photographs they took in the 70s and the 80s. Many publishers rejected the book but eventually Cooper and Chalfant made a deal and the photo book called Subway Art was published in 1984. It wasn’t an immediate success, but over time, it sold half a million copies and established their reputation worldwide.

EPOXY – Art Contemporain Urbain & Graffiti – FESTIVAL ROSE BETON – TOULOUSE-FR 2016. Photos : Big Addict – Design : Ianik – All Rights Reserved
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