Join us this week as Amon chops it up with Selina Miles about her debut film “Martha: A Picture Story” which documents the notable contributions of veteran graffiti and street art photographer Martha Cooper.
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Show Notes
Telling the Story | The Natural Arc | This Needs to be Longer than 10 Minutes | Keys to the Archive | A Continuous Process of Deduction | Pokémon GO | TAKI 183 | Be Your Authentic Self | Hustin‘ | SOFLES – INFINITE | Ironlak | Dj Butcher and Tom Thum | Didn’t Go To Film School | Learning to Communicate your Ideas | Writing a Treatment | The Wanderers | 1Up Crew | DONDI | When Your Subject becomes a Friend | Hard Truths | Rough Conversations | Steven Kasher | Crack Vail Collection | Martha Laughs | Peace Corps | Wild Style | Sean Corcoran | Lee Quiñones | Social Media is a Life Thief | Subway Art (Book) | Back Yourself | Paper Scissors Stone · Portico Quartet | Model Releases | Assembly Editor | Film Forum | Angelika Film Center | GoMA Pug Parade | Help Save the Furry Ones
About Selina Miles
Director Selina Miles works extensively in digital online production and the global street art movement. Her style of energetic and vivid direction has brought her acclaim in that space – her short ‘hyper-lapse’ video Limitless became a globally recognized rendition of graffiti art, garnering over 12million views on YouTube. She extended her examination of the street artist at work with her online series The Wanderers, in 2017. Her current production Martha: A Picture Story has developed out of her unique access to this global art movement, merging immersive storytelling with bold direction to create a distinctive feature documentary.
Follow: Official Website | Instagram | Vimeo
Buy or Rent: AppleTv | AltaVOD
Synopsis of “Martha: A Picture Story”
Martha Cooper is an unexpected icon of the street art movement – a tiny, grey-haired figure running alongside crews of masked graffiti artists.
In the 1970’s, as the boroughs of New York City burned, she worked as a photographer for the New York Post, seeking images of creativity and play where others saw crime and poverty. As a result, she captured some of the first images of New York graffiti, at a time when the city had declared war on this new culture. Martha and her co-author Henry Chalfant compiled these images into the book Subway Art. However, the commercial failure of the book forced Martha to leave graffiti behind, moving on to document many other hidden cultures of New York.
20 years later Martha discovers she has become a legend of the graffiti world – a culture that has now exploded into a global movement. Subway Art became one of the most sold – and stolen – art books of all time, photocopied and shared by graffiti artists for decades.
At 75 years of age, Martha finds herself navigating a culture vastly changed. The small community born from struggle and adversity, has grown into a commercial industry fuelled by the rise of social media. Now every new piece of street art is immediately uploaded, and crowds line up for selfies in front of popular works. Martha struggles to find her place in this new world, driven by a passion for capturing the creativity that helps people rise above their environment.
“The time has come to address the fact that senior women remain a gravely underrepresented demographic in media. Martha: A Picture Story is an affirming
and inspiring story of a trailblazing woman still very much in her prime at the age of 75.” – Selina Miles
Works by Selina Miles
Hustlin’
SOFLES — LIMITLESS.
Martha: A Picture Story – Official Trailer
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