The Birth of Graffiti is filled with photographs of graffiti from 1970s New York. Graffiti groupies will probably recognize Jon Naar’s name—he published a much sought-after and now out-of-print book called The Faith of Graffiti in 1974. The book, which included an essay by Norman Mailer, was the first of its kind, and became part of the raging debate about whether graffiti taggers were degenerates or artistic prophets.
The Birth of Graffiti reads like an extended and updated version of The Faith of Graffiti, using the same photos (plus an additional hundred) and replacing the Norman Mailer essay with one by Sacha Jenkins (Jenkins’ essay situates the photos within the historical context of emergent youth culture). Given its place in time, The Birth of Graffiti would be hard-pressed to duplicate the excitement or the impact of Faith.
However, since images of graffiti art are now so commonplace, it’s shocking how affecting and exhilarating the photos in Birth are. Since the 1980s, NYC has cracked down on graffiti—posting guards, increasing penalties, and buffing surfaces as fast as artists can tag them. But in these photos, the graffiti is thick and ubiquitous—covering buildings, pavement, entire subway trains, windows, and passenger cars.
Teenage graffiti artists pose for Naar, holding scraps of paper with their personal tags or gesturing proudly at the public property they’ve defaced. During NY’s period of civic negligence in the 1970s, graffiti artists were able to shape their culture on the surfaces of the city in a way that is no longer possible.
– Kim Velsey
The Birth of Graffiti
Author: Jon Naar (introduction by Sacha Jenkins)
Paperback, 192 pages
$24.95, Prestel
Release: May 2007