Birmingham hosts New York graffiti train photography exhibition

Respected New York photographer Henry Chalfant is clearly delighted by how Birmingham is showcasing his work in a new exhibition.

He’s flown into England’s second city to give his seal of approval to The Epic Story of Graffiti.

“This is amazing, this is really spectacularly beautiful and so impressive and grand. And for me to see that entrance, coming across the plaza, was like mind-blowing.”

The 85-year-old was in New York at the time the city gave birth to hip-hop, and travelled around the city in the 1970s and 1980s documenting young men creating an art movement with graffiti on the New York subway.

“I think we’ve proved now that this is an artform that has exploded beyond the kind of boundaries that people try to confine this artform with,” said The Epic Art of Graffiti curator Mohammed Ali from Birmingham-based Soul City Arts.

“I saw Henry many years ago, over 10 years ago in New York and I said: ‘We’ve got to bring this to Birmingham’ where I was born and raised, and I feel really, really blessed and privileged that Henry has trusted me with these pictures.”

Chalfant, originally from Pennsylvania, moved to New York in the early 1970s at a time when the city had a fearful reputation.

“It was when New York was at the bottom, already going down the drain,” he said.

“The middle class was fleeing, the Bronx was burning, and East New York was burning. It was terrible and pretty scary to go there.

“But it never ceased to blow my mind living in New York. There was already graffiti on the trains and I wanted to take pictures to show my friends outside of the city to say ‘see it’s not so bad, it’s actually exciting’.”

Chalfant started photographing the train painters in 1977 and spent the next eight years capturing their work, once he had convinced them “I wasn’t an undercover cop”.

He added: “The graffiti movement has been culture-changing and I was there at the start and I feel very happy and lucky and proud of that.”

The exhibition has been launched to coincide with the B-SIDE Hip-Hop Festival, which takes place this weekend, and is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

The three-day festival takes place at Birmingham Hippodrome, Southside and Bullring.