Tag Spotlight #1 - Mike Delmar: ‘H.A.E.R. Survey of the 3rd avenue El Line, 1974'

40 pages
Edited by Javier Abarca
Photograph(s) by Mike Delmar
21 x 14.8 cm
Language: English
Softcover
Publisher: Urbanario & Hitzerot
2023

For the first issue the editor hooked up with Mike Delmar, a rogue archivist who digs deep into all kind of sources and brings rare photo and video material to light, focusing on the early days of writing in New York City. In this issue selected rare black and white photographs from the 3rd Avenue subway line are presented. They were part of a 1973 survey on the IRT’S (Interborough Rapid Transit) elevated line, which was demolished four years later.

For the IRT these shots may have been just some kind of necessary everyday photographic material to plan the line’s total closure. Looking back from today these photographs capture an unique moment in the history of graffiti. Not a decade ago some teens from Manhattan started the namewriting game and the famous New York Times article on TAKI183 was published only three years before. While the first masterpieces were executed in the yards of the city, these priceless photos documented the traces of the beginnings: tags from some of the earliest writers.

Featuring: RICHRICAN181, PIMP164, BLUE189, SUPERMUG, TROUBLEMAN, MRTIP-O169, AMRL (BAMA), WARKING, CHAMP131, SMOOTH169, BIG-O116, ACE169, KOOLT.T.171, SUPERKOOL223, FRIZ171, SONNY107, ZOOK2, SMOKENJOE166, TABU1, FOXY170, DRLEE170, PHASE2, CHICK1, CUCO145, VALDEZ1, BLOOD1, SNUFF1, TABU169, and more.