Legendary (graffiti) photographer Martha Cooper was honored for her 70th birthday with the best birthday card ever - a tribute mural honoring her located at Houston / Bowery Streets. Some of the best graffiti / street art writers of the past decades organized this special event to honor and give thanks to all she has done since the 70's photographing and documenting their work while keeping them fairly anonymous. Martha "Marty" is a highly accomplished photographer with books such as the popular SUBWAY ART, New York State of Mind, Street Play, Name Tagging and a very hard to obtain pocket size Remembering 911 tribute book (that I luckily bought in Miami two years ago.) If you google her, you'll recognize her work immediately. Yesterday afternoon, she arrived at the busy intersection (that receives a new commissioned-artist mural every few months), to see that it was HER being honored.
Here's how it all happened with artists Bio, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash, Daze, How & Nosm and Lady Aiko - and who am I forgetting??
Lady Pink, above and below
How & Nosm, in which order, not sure (twins.)
View of Martha and crew in middle of the street...
Lady Aiko above and below...
Lady Aiko...
One of the twins with Niko....
We all rushed to get this legendary shot of Martha and crew shooting the mural from mid-street...
...and this is how it looked! The artists all gather - history in the making folks!
And another...
Brooklyn Street Art signing and Martha doing her thing...
Check this out ASAP on Houston / Bowery for an even more detailed look and pay tribute to the photographic legend!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARTHA COOPER!