Books in the MCL: John P. Jacob (ed.). Kodak Girl: From the Martha Cooper Collection
Kodak Girl: From the Martha Cooper Collection. John P. Jacob (ed.). 2012
Reprinted from the original review.
“Kodak Girl: From the Martha Cooper Collection“, edited by John P. Jacob with essays by Alison Nordström and Nancy M. West, provides an in-depth examination of Kodak’s influential marketing campaign centered around the iconic Kodak Girl. With a riveting collection of photographs and related ephemera, the book dives into the intersection of technology, culture, and the role of gender in the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries. It offers readers a comprehensive look at how Kodak not only transformed photography into a widely accessible hobby but also significantly influenced societal perceptions of women.
MARTHA COOPER LIBRARY: BOOK RECOMMENDATION
? | Title: Kodak Girl. From The Martha Cooper Collection / Edited by John P. Jacob ? | Steidl. Germany, 2011 ? | Authors: John P. Jacob, Alison Nordstrom, and Nancy M. West ? | Language: English
This is a new mini-installment from our interview with Michelle Houston about the current show at Urban Nation, LOVE LETTERS TO THE CITY.
“Why is public space not about public discourse and the things that are happening?,” asks Houston. “Why, have we got cigarette adverts and not conversations about social mobility?”
Even during these cold Berlin winter days, Urban Nation lights a warm fire inside your mind and imagination and gives you ideas to discuss and consider – and questions to ponder. Whose city are we living in?
Video credits: Commissioned by Stiftung Berliner Leben. Shot by Alexander Lichtner & Ilja Braun. Post-production, additional footage, graphics, and a final version by Michelle Nimpsch for YAP Studio/YES, AND… productions GmbH & Co. KG
Books in the MCL: Life’s A Mission Then You’re Dead. REVS, XSOUP, and ARBOR
REVS, XSOUP, and ARBOR. Life’s A Mission Then You’re Dead. 2022
Reprinted from the original review.
Life’s A Mission Then You’re Dead. REVS, XSOUP, and ARBOR
In the pantheon of New York graffiti legends at the turn of the century, few names resonate like REVS. Thanks to the regard other writers have for him “Life’s A Mission Then You’re Dead,” compiled alongside XSOUP and ARBOR, stands as a monumental tribute to the gritty essence and raw spirit of the city’s subterranean graffiti culture. The 510-page tome emerges not only as a collection of inside views but as an immersive chronicle of the lives, thoughts, and experiences of over a hundred NYC graffiti writers. Each account is a testament to the unvarnished reality of the streets, capturing the adrenaline, artistry, and audacity of those who dare to leave their mark in the most impermanent of all galleries: the urban cityscape.
MARTHA COOPER LIBRARY: BOOK RECOMMENDATION
? | Title: Life’s A Mission Then You’re Dead. REVS, XSOUP, and ARBOR ? | Self-published / 2022 ? | Authors: REVS, XSOUP, and ARBOR ? | Language: English
We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family for your support in 2024. Picked by our followers, these photos are the heavily circulated and “liked” selections of the year – shot by our Editor of Photography, Jaime Rojo. We’re sharing a new one every day to celebrate all our good times together, our hope for the future, and our love for the street. Happy Holidays Everyone!
This shot is a favorite for many reasons. We are celebrating seven years since the opening of the Urban Nation Museum with just a handful of curators. It’s exciting to see the Berlin museum continue to grow, reaching new audiences and sharing the ever-evolving story of street art.
Marking the launch of the new exhibition,Love Letters to the City, the façade features a striking piece by Lady Pink, the legendary New York train writer of the 1970s. Her “love letter” unfolds through a sensuous female form, a nod to both her roots and her enduring voice in the scene. The U2’s section between Bülowstraße and Nollendorfplatz is particularly iconic, and in the foreground, the blazing yellow train rolls by, a vivid reminder that time waits for no one.
As the year comes to a close, we are pleased to present our 14th curated list of books—a reflection of our ongoing commitment to building a world-class library in Berlin. As co-founders of the Martha Cooper Library, our mission is to develop and maintain one of the most comprehensive collections dedicated to art books, photography archives, urban culture studies, street art monographs, graffiti history, and public art anthologies. These works serve as a vital resource for researchers, practitioners, and enthusiasts who engage deeply with these fields.
Looking ahead to 2025, we are thrilled to announce the inaugural Martha Cooper Scholarship, which will launch next year in collaboration with Urban Nation Museum, the Martha Cooper Library, and Martha herself. This scholarship will support outstanding achievements in photography, underscoring her and our dedication to fostering new generations of talent and scholarship in visual culture.
Numerous publications explore street art, graffiti, and related practices each year, adding valuable perspectives and insights to the field. While our focus for this year’s list includes some recent releases, we’ve also highlighted significant works from previous years that help us put today in a better context. We invite your suggestions for books you’d like to see featured or added to the Martha Cooper Library collection and featured here. Your recommendations are invaluable as we continue to expand and diversify our offerings.
Below is our selected shortlist – books that make meaningful additions to any library and thoughtful gifts for family, friends, or even yourself. We hope you enjoy them as much as we have.
Bartek Świątecki, aka Penner, has a style that is a confidently defined blend of bold colors, geometric shapes, and abstract forms harmoniously intertwined. It’s a graphical minimalism that speaks volumes, with straight lines and pure colors forming complex, geometrical clusters. This unique visual language demonstrates his mastery of blending traditional graffiti with modern abstraction and reflects a deep engagement with high art and youth culture. His murals and canvas works, often large-scale, are known for their dynamic and vibrant nature, inviting viewers into a world where street art and fine art converge.
Books In The MCL: Golden Boy as Anthony Cool: by Herbert Kohl and James Hinton
From BSA:
Herbert Kohl and James Hinton’s “Golden Boy as Anthony Cool,” published in 1972, is a seminal work in the study of urban graffiti and street culture. Not only an academic exploration; it’s a journey into the heart of graffiti as a form of personal expression, rebellion, and cultural identity. Kohl’s insightful essays paired with Hinton’s evocative photographs provide a window into the lives of young people in the urban landscapes of New York City and Los Angeles as they simultaneously boil, wane and flourish in the late 60s and early 70s. These vibrant and vibrating communities are chronicled, whether affluent suburbs or struggling neighborhoods, each appears to brim with stories cryptically told through tags and murals on walls and doors.
Text Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo Photos by Sebastian Kläbsch
Books In The MCL: The Self-Titled “NeSpoon” by NeSpoon.
From BSA:
“NeSpoon,” a monograph on the work of the Polish artist, provides a comprehensive examination of her unique integration of lace patterns into urban and natural landscapes. The book, limited to 111 copies, each spanning over 420 pages, showcases the artist’s extensive portfolio and delves into the anthropology, cultural, and historical significance underlying her chosen medium.
“Why lace? It just came to me. Lace chose me, not the other way around. I’ve never liked lace. Before I started working with it, I thought lace was something old-fashioned, from a grandmother’s dusty apartment. Today it seems to me that each lace harbors harmony, balance and a sense of natural order. Isn’t that just what we are all searching for instinctively?”~ NeSpoon
Text: Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, Photos: Sebastian Kläbsch
Books In The MCL: Tokyo Tattoo 1970. Martha Cooper. Stockholm, Dokument Press.
From BSA:
In “Tokyo Tattoo 1970,” photographer Martha Cooper, well-known for her definitive work on New York City’s graffiti scene, applies her ethnographic skills to document traditional Japanese tattooing. This book provides a clear and respectful portrayal of a secretive and highly specialized art form, preserved in black-and-white film photography. Through Cooper’s lens, readers gain access to the traditional techniques and cultural narratives embedded in Japanese tattoo art, offering insights into an art form that was largely inaccessible during the early 1970s.
Text: Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo Fotos: Sebastian Kläbsch
Books In The MCL: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora. Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón.
Graffiti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora. Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón. 2018. New York. New York University Press.
From BSA:
“Graffiti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora” by Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón provides an insightful look into the world of women graffiti artists, challenging the perception that graffiti is a male-dominated subculture. This book highlights the contributions of over 100 women graffiti artists from 23 countries, showcasing how they navigate, challenge, and redefine the graffiti landscape.
From the streets of New York to the alleys of São Paulo, Pabón-Colón explores the lives and works of these women, presenting graffiti as a space for the performance of feminism. The book examines how these artists build communities, reshape the traditionally masculine spaces of hip hop, and create networks that lead to the formation of all-girl graffiti crews and painting sessions. This aspect is particularly useful in understanding how digital platforms have broadened the reach and impact of women graffiti artists, facilitating connections and collaborations worldwide.
Text: Steven P. Harrington & Jaime Rojo Fotos: Sebastian Kläbsch
ESCIF / “The Foundations of Harmony and Invention”
FROM BSA:
It would be challenging to extricate Escif’s work from the city and its daily routines. The city, with its cacophonous soundtrack created by its inhabitants’ constant movement and the fluidity of their industry and agency, remains central to the artist’s focus and relevance.
For Escif, the city is not just a muse but the bedrock of his artistic inspiration, a canvas, and an outlet for addressing its contradictions and inequalities. In his work, the city is not an abstract subject but a perpetual, tangible, and knowable presence, manifested in myriad encounters, journeys, dreams, observations, and experiences, later reassigned onto paper, canvas, or concrete.
Urban Nation’s Love Letters to the City, curated by Michelle Houston, is both an exhibition and a fulsome, sophisticated incantation. It invites audiences to confront the layered realities of urban life through the interpretation of its anonymous visual rebels, graffiti writers, and street artists and a generous representation of activists.
The show embraces the chaotic energy of unsanctioned art in the streets while seeking to decode its deeper meanings. It moves beyond the aesthetic to probe the social and political forces that shape these messages, sometimes manifestos. With themes ranging from urbanization and gentrification to environmental degradation and social inequality, Houston challenges visitors to imagine and reimagine the role of art in public spaces and consider its potential to transform the everyday into something with weight and impact.
“Painting in public spaces is inherently political,” Houston says, emphasizing the power of public art to reflect and react to the environment in which it exists. This exhibition showcases that power, exploring how artists navigate and reinterpret public spaces to create works that are as much about dialogue as they are about visual impact. The concept of “love letters” broadens here to encompass affection, critique, sarcasm, and hope—as multifaceted as the modern city.
One of the exhibition’s defining features is its indoor and outdoor elements integration. Lady Pink’s monumental mural on Urban Nation’s façade is a vivid testament to her approximately fifty-year legacy of painting on city walls and the interconnected histories of New York and Berlin. Her work, swirling with trains and iconic tags, serves as a personal love letter and a broader commentary on the universal city—a place of movement, reinvention, and resilience. Inside, installations like Moses & Taps’ suspended parcel truck and Rocco and His Brothers’ reconstructed graffiti writers’ benches disrupt the museum space with some of the raw energy of the street, blurring the lines between the institution and the public sphere.
The show also delves into Berlin’s complex history with walls and paint, with artifacts from the Stiftung Berliner Mauer prompting viewers to consider the dualities of oppression and liberation that define the city’s narrative.
“What is it about the glorification of a symbol of oppression by painting one side, and how was that commercialized?” Houston asks, pushing audiences to think critically about how art interacts with history and commodification. These questions resonate deeply in a city where the walls bear witness to decades of struggle and transformation.
The exhibition combines an impressive roster of artists, from early pioneers like Blek le Rat and Shepard Fairey to contemporary innovators like Bordalo II and Jazoo Yang. Each work offers a distinct perspective on the urban experience, whether through critiques of environmental decay, explorations of social identity, or celebrations of urban resilience. Houston’s curation creates space for these voices to intersect, offering unity and tension as the exhibition’s themes unfold.
At its heart, Love Letters to the City is a call to reconsider how we interact daily with the designed/built/neglected/destroyed human-made environment. It asks us to see the city as a backdrop and an active participant in our lives—a canvas where personal and collective histories collide.
As Houston asserts, “Paint in public space has a different potency in the city than anywhere else.” That potency lies in its immediacy, ability to provoke, offend, and inspire, and capacity to reflect urban life’s complexities. Through this exhibition, Urban Nation affirms the enduring relevance of this kind of public art and its power to illuminate the cities we call home.
2501, Banksy, Blek le Rat, Bordalo II, Carlos Mare aka Mare139, Chop ’em Down Films, Crash, Dan Witz, Daze, Drew. Lab_One, Elfo, Evol, HA Schult, HOGRE, Isaac Zavale, James Reka, Jaune, Jazoo Yang, Joel Daniel Phillips, Johannnes Mundinger, Jordan Seiler, Kenny Scharf, Lady Pink, Liviu Bulea, Martha Cooper, Matthew Grabelsky, MILLO, Moses & Taps, Nika Kramer, Octavi Serra, Owen Dippie, OX, PAINTING DHAKA Project, Mr. Paradox Paradise, Rocco and his brothers, Sebas Velasco, Shepard Fairey, Stephanie Buer, Stiftung Berliner Mauer, Stipan Tadić, Susanna Jerger, Tats Cru, THE WA, Vhils, and Zhang Dali.
Video credits: Commissioned by Stiftung Berliner Leben. Shot by Alexander Lichtner & Ilja Braun. Post-production, additional footage, graphics, and a final version by Michelle Nimpsch for YAP Studio/YES, AND… productions GmbH & Co. KG
LOVE LETTERS TO THE CITY
September 14, 2024 – May 30, 2027. For a schedule of events, hours of operation, directions, and more details click HERE
Graffiti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora. Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón. 2018
“Graffiti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora” by Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón provides an insightful look into the world of women graffiti artists, challenging the perception that graffiti is a male-dominated subculture. This book highlights the contributions of over 100 women graffiti artists from 23 countries, showcasing how they navigate, challenge, and redefine the graffiti landscape.
From the streets of New York to the alleys of São Paulo, Pabón-Colón explores the lives and works of these women, presenting graffiti as a space for the performance of feminism. The book examines how these artists build communities, reshape the traditionally masculine spaces of hip hop, and create networks that lead to the formation of all-girl graffiti crews and painting sessions. This aspect is particularly useful in understanding how digital platforms have broadened the reach and impact of women graffiti artists, facilitating connections and collaborations worldwide.
MARTHA COOPER LIBRARY: BOOK RECOMMENDATION
? | Title: Graffitti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora ? | NYU Press; 1st edition (June 22, 2018) ? | Authors: Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón ? | Language: English
Book review by Steven P. Harrington & Jaime Rojo/Brooklyn Street Art. Martha Cooper Library
Martha Cooper. Tokyo Tattoo 1970. 2012.
In “Tokyo Tattoo 1970,” photographer Martha Cooper, well-known for her definitive work on New York City’s graffiti scene, applies her ethnographic skills to document traditional Japanese tattooing. This book provides a clear and respectful portrayal of a secretive and highly specialized art form, preserved in black-and-white film photography. Through Cooper’s lens, readers gain access to the traditional techniques and cultural narratives embedded in Japanese tattoo art, offering insights into an art form that was largely inaccessible during the early 1970s.
Book Review by Steven P. Harrington & Jaime Rojo / Brooklyn Street Art for the Martha Cooper Library at Urban Nation Museum, Berlin, Germany.
“NeSpoon,” a monograph on the work of the Polish artist, provides a comprehensive examination of her unique integration of lace patterns into urban and natural landscapes. The book, limited to 111 copies, each spanning over 420 pages, showcases the artist’s extensive portfolio and delves into the anthropology, cultural, and historical significance underlying her chosen medium.
“Why lace? It just came to me. Lace chose me, not the other way around. I’ve never liked lace. Before I started working with it, I thought lace was something old-fashioned, from a grandmother’s dusty apartment. Today it seems to me that each lace harbors harmony, balance and a sense of natural order. Isn’t that just what we are all searching for instinctively?”
~ NeSpoon
NeSpoon revitalizes the traditional craft of lace-making, tracing its roots back to the mid-sixteenth century in Venice and Flanders. This blend of past and present is a recurring theme in her art, as she applies centuries-old designs to contemporary settings. Beyond aesthetic enhancement, her projects aim to instill harmony and natural order—qualities she believes are inherent in lace patterns. CLICK URBAN NATION BERLIN TO CONTINUE READING.
Text: Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, Photos: Sebastian Kläbsch
The newest mural by Innerfields marks a powerful addition to Berlin’s urban cityscape, installed as part of the ONE WALL initiative by Urban Nation. This Berlin-based street art duo, Holger Weißflog and Jakob Tory Bardou, has created a moving tribute to Dorothee and Harald Poelchau, who bravely sheltered those persecuted during the Nazi era. The mural, located on the façade of a Gewobag building in Charlottenburg-Nord, draws on Innerfields’ signature photorealistic style with a blend of surrealist and symbolic elements, visually narrating a story of courage, protection, and human resilience.
Central to the mural are the intertwined hands of Dorothee and Harald, symbolizing the physical and emotional sanctuary they offered to those in need. Dorothee holds a light, a gesture conveying warmth and hope amid adversity, while a menorah placed nearby serves as a poignant reminder of the Holocaust. Lines weave through these elements, subtly representing the network of resistance that the Poelchaus supported, embodying a collective strength defying oppression.
Originally a trio with artist Veit Tempich, Innerfields has painted murals worldwide, from Berlin, Hamburg, and Cologne to Aalborg, Prague, and Hong Kong. Known for tackling themes of human interaction, technology, and environmental consciousness, Innerfields employs a unique fusion of realism, surrealism, and abstraction; theirs is a unique reflection on society’s dynamics. Their work has appeared at prestigious events like Out in the Open in Aalborg and the Wall Street Festival in Prague, as well as in galleries like ATM Gallery in Berlin and 30works Gallery in Cologne.
Here, we see how Innerfields brings historical remembrance into the present, creating a public artwork and a newly living memorial. The project involved students from the Anna Freud School, who engaged with the mural’s themes, enhancing their understanding of resistance and actively participating in Berlin’s evolving culture of remembrance. The mural, initially surprising to some in the community with its bright pink primer, it now appears to resonate deeply with locals, fostering a sense of shared history and identity. It is just the latest showing Innerfields’ commitment to creating meaningful public art that honors the past and inspires the future.
Berlin is teeming with artists of all kinds—not just street artists and graffiti writers—from around the world. For decades, the city has been a natural magnet for creatives. In conjunction with the new exhibition Love Letters to the City, Urban Nation brought around 20 artists to the streets surrounding the museum. The diverse techniques and styles showcased here reflect the incredible talent in the city—a convergence of dreams, aspirations, and life paths intersecting in this urban landscape. Below is a selection of walls and images we captured during the UN celebrations.
URBAN NATION MUSEUM’S EXHIBITION “LOVE LETTERS TO THE CITY” is currently on view. The Community Murals are also on view and free to the public. For schedules and further details click HERE
Join BSA this week in Berlin as we celebrate the opening of “Love Letters to the City,” the new exhibition at Urban Nation Museum. We’ll also be tooling around the city and sharing whatever catches our eye.
“Love Letters to the City is a homage to the city, the idea of the universal city,” curator Michelle Houston reflects while seated at a picnic table outside a Thai restaurant in Berlin’s Schöneberg neighborhood. As final installations are taking place in Urban Nation, Houston’s gazes upward at the new mural on its façade being painted by OG train writer Lady Pink on a cherry picker at the museum. This mural is part of Houston’s upcoming show, “Love Letters to the City.”
“I think paint in public spaces has a different potency in the city than anywhere else,” Houston explains, discussing the exhibition’s outdoor and indoor installations. She highlights the various ways Urban Nation is presenting the evolution of graffiti and street art, noting its role in urbanization, gentrification, and even social conditioning. “It does much more than just present pretty images.”
The museum’s exhibition features a diverse array of works, including full-scale three-dimensional installations and sculptures. A significant portion of the pieces are borrowed from the museum’s permanent collection, while others are newly commissioned from both national and international artists.
Currently, Lady Pink, born Sandra Fabara in 1964 in Ecuador, is working on her mural two stories above the bustling street. Her piece, an illustrative and fantastical love letter of her own, features a swirling train reminiscent of the NYC subway trains she became famous for painting in the early 1980s. Her work includes improvisational tags of other iconic figures from that era. In Berlin, where graffiti and street art have transformed entire neighborhoods and established it a magnet for creativity in the public space, her mural is a testament to the city’s rich artistic history.
For Houston, the mural is just one example of “the ingenious ways that artists hack and appropriate public space.”
Born outside Sydney and based in Glasgow, Sam Bates—SMUG—began the way many graffiti writers do: skateboards, hip-hop, and late-night missions …Read More »
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