As Groundswell launches the online preview of our Art Auction Benefit, an extraordinary array of artists will help us celebrate at our Brooklyn venue The Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg On October 20.
 
We are particularly excited to announce this year’s artist honoree, renowned photojournalist Martha Cooper. Cooper’s legendary documentation of New York’s graffiti art and Hip Hop scene elevated public art and resulted in the publication of the seminal Subway Art (1984), produced in collaboration with Henry Chalfant. Cooper is one of the most significant photographers of her generation and has published more than a dozen books on a variety of subjects, including Hip Hop Files: Photographs 1979-1984. Her photographs have appeared in hundreds of magazines worldwide.  Current exhibitions include Kids at the Dorian Grey Gallery, with John Ahern, and Hip Hop Revolution at The Museum of the City of New York, on view until September 27.
 
This summer Cooper visited and documented seven Groundswell murals at sites across New York City. Onsite, Cooper engaged with our youth artists as they tackled issues such as the complex relationship between young men of color and the police and street harassment. Groundswell is pleased to announce that Cooper’s photographs documenting these murals will be exhibited along with youth and artist sketches at the Art Auction on October 20.
 
Cooper also generously donated a seminal photograph Keith Haring painting the Houston/Bowery Wall, 1982, which will be complemented by Ricky Powell’s photograph of Jean Michel Basquiat on West Broadway from 1986. Finally, artist Chris Stain’s work, North 9th Street, a stencil of a permanent 90-foot mural installed in 2014 on Pacific Street in Brooklyn will accompany Cooper’s photograph of the mural.
 
Learn more about Cooper and the many talented artists featured this year, and view a sneak preview of Groundswell's auction (hosted by Paddle8), here. Online bidding begins October 6 at 12pm EST. 
 
 
With just five weeks until the big night, we also encourage you to purchase your tickets now.