BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
No matter how far she strays in the world photographer Martha Cooper is never far from the work that made her famous in the graffiti and Street Art world. An avid globetrotter, Ms. Cooper is always observing and shooting in new cities. In recent years she has been pursuing a project entirely unrelated to her “Subway Art” days, an ethnographic study and cultural photographic comparison of two similarly named spots half a world away from one another: Sowebo (in Baltimore, MD) and Soweto in South Africa. This fall while shooting for her Sowebo/Soweto project, Cooper’s past suddenly came rumbling across the tracks above her, and she new she had one of her favorite shots of 2013.
Kliptown. Soweto, South Africa 2013. (photo © Martha Cooper)
A Train Runs Through Mandela’s Kliptown
I took this photo in September in Kliptown, an historic district in Soweto, South Africa. Although pursuing a project that had nothing to do with street art, I couldn’t take my eyes off the commuter trains with graffiti passing through. One evening I waited in the heart of Kliptown hoping to catch a shot of a painted train. This was exactly how I had photographed subway graffiti in the early ’80s in the Bronx. Back then I could never have imagined that 30 years later I would be attempting a similar shot on the other side of the globe.
By great good fortune a train passed by with graffiti in colors complimentary to my pre-selected foreground. The tiny child at the door of the typical corrugated iron Soweto shack was a poignant touch I could not have anticipated.
Kliptown is famous for its Freedom Charter signed in 1955 in an early protest against apartheid. Graffiti represents a different kind of freedom. Here’s to freedoms of all kinds, to the memory of Nelson Mandela who lived in Soweto and to a better life for the children of Kliptown and beyond.
~ Martha CooperLocation: Kliptown, Soweto, South Africa, 2013.
#13from2013
Check out our Brooklyn Street Art 2013 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo here.
<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA
Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!
<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA
238
138
45
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
"Cityscape" is a word that usually refers to the architecture and urban design but Robbbb refer’s to Beijing residents when he calls his ongoing series by that name. “These works reflect the real livi...
Anyone born after 1960, and that includes most sticker artists on the street today, has a positive association with the humble sticker. From "smiley" and "gold star" rewards stuck to the top of your ...
“Olor a Azucenas el Perfume del Barrio” (The smell of Lilies is the Perfume of the Neighborhood) is the new mural by Don Rimx for this Brooklyn wall on Grand Street. Don Rimx. “Olor a Azucenas el...
A common thread ties together two buildings and two art pieces by Street Artist HOT TEA for the grand opening of the Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin (UN); Bad Dreams. And he h...
Joe Ficalora and the Bushwick Collective crew took over the streets of Bushwick again this year to entertain the locals, the visitors, and everybody else with his annual block party. When you look at...
