Bid now on this one-of-a-kind piece from the Subway Graffiti Series, a unique original photograph by legendary urban culture documentarian Henry Chalfant — signed in pencil on the verso and hand-selected for inclusion in a custom curated collection by renowned graffiti artist Mare139 in 2011.
Captured between 1977 and 1980, this panoramic photograph documents New York City's subway system during one of the most creatively explosive periods in the history of street art. The image stretches across a striking 6.5" × 30.5" format, a proportion perfectly suited to the sprawling, car-length canvases that defined the era's graffiti culture. Henry Chalfant (b. 1940) is one of the most important chroniclers of hip-hop and urban culture in the world.
His photographs are held in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh. He co-authored Subway Art — widely considered the definitive account of New York graffiti — as well as its global follow-up, Spraycan Art, and co-produced the landmark 1983 documentary Style Wars, which first aired on PBS in 1984. His work didn't just document a movement — it helped define it.
Designated as a unique edition, this print is a singular artifact from a pivotal moment in American cultural history, further distinguished by its selection and curation by Mare139, himself a celebrated figure in the graffiti world. For collectors at the intersection of photography, hip-hop history, and urban art, this is a rare and deeply resonant acquisition.
Henry Chalfant Subway Graffiti Series 1

THE BDC USES COMMUNITY-BASED DOCUMENTARY PRACTICE AND EDUCATION TO EXPLORE VITAL ISSUES, STIMULATE CRITICAL THOUGHT, AND DRIVE SOCIAL CHANGE.
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