Going Postal

by Martha Cooper

Postal stickers have long been a preferred substrate used by street artists to get up. Of course, because stickers from the US Postal Service, UPS, DHL and FEDEX are so readily available, many of these stickers get lost in the fray. That’s where graffiti photography legend Martha Cooper comes in. Shooting the origins of hip-hop and graffiti cultures since the late 1970s in New York City, and later all over the world, Cooper’s well-trained eyes know how to recognize deft sticker art. Going Postal is a collection of more than 200 photographs of some of Cooper’s favorite handmade postal stickers from around the world, done by both better-known and anonymous artists. Going Postal documents how an old-school method has burgeoned into a rich facet of the world’s graffiti cultures.

Genres: Art

96 pages, Hardcover

First published September 24, 2008

About the author

She is perhaps best known for documenting the New York graffiti scene of the 1970s and '80s. Her most known personal work began while working at the New York Post. On her return home from the Post she began taking photos of children in her New York city neighborhood. One day she met a young kid named Edwin who helped expose her to some of the graffiti around her neighborhood. Edwin helped to explain to her that Graffiti is an art form and that each artist was actually writing his/her nickname. Edwin then proceeded to tell of the Graffiti King and asked if she would like to meet him. This is when Martha met Dondi, the first one who allowed her to accompany him; while Dondi was tagging she would take photos of his art. In the 1980s she put together a book of photos illustrating the Graffiti subculture called Subway Art. She has degrees in art and anthropology.
She was a photography intern at National Geographic Magazine in the 1960s, and worked as a staff photographer at the New York Post in the 1970s. Her photographs have appeared in National Geographic, Smithsonian and Natural History magazines as well as several dozen books and journals. She is the Director of Photography at City Lore, the New York Center for Urban Folk Culture. Cooper lives in Manhattan but is working on a photo project in Sowebo, a Southwest Baltimore neighborhood.
In the 1980s Martha worked briefly in Belize photographing the people and archaeological remains of the Mayan culture. Two sites that received publication in National Geographic were Nohmul & Cuello, both under the direction of Dr. Norman Hammond.

[From Wikipedia]

Reviews

[Tippy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good introduction. Some choice images. A few pages had too many pictures on them and it was overwhelming.

[Neko · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book isn't filled with words :P There is a few pages with an intro by Martha Cooper at the start but other than that it's purely pictures. Lovely to see hand drawn stickers!!