SOPHIE BRAMLY (B. 1959)

Collection of 8 Graffiti photos

each individually signed, titled and numbered in pencil (on the reverse)

ultrasmooth prints

Executed in 1983. Printed in 2014. Unique.

NOTES:

Sophie Bramly (b. 1959) is a French photographer, creative director, and media pioneer whose work has played a pivotal role in chronicling and shaping the early global narrative of hip-hop culture. Born in Tunisia and raised in Paris, Bramly moved to New York in 1981, where she embedded herself in the emerging hip-hop scene as both witness and documentarian. Over the next three years, she captured the culture’s underground vibrancy with unprecedented intimacy. Her photographs, taken in clubs, bedrooms, subway stations, and recording studios, remain among the most definitive visual records of hip-hop’s formative years.

This set of eight photographs by Sophie Bramly captures pivotal figures and flashpoints from the early 1980s graffiti and downtown art scene in New York. Printed under the artist’s supervision by Janvier in Paris, the series offers rare access to the creative epicenters of Fashion Moda, FUN Gallery, and the Roxy, spaces where graffiti, hip-hop, and contemporary art collided and coalesced. The images serve not only as documentation but as vivid evocations of the energy, defiance, and raw creativity that defined downtown New York at the dawn of its global influence.


1 - A kid in front of a Futura painting at Fashion Moda

2- Stefan Eins, founder of Fashion Moda

3 - Fab 5 Freddy at Fun Gallery, with spray cans

4 - Kenny Scharf in his own world

5 - Zephyr in the subway with a sleeping transport authority guard

6 - Dondi working in his bedroom

7 - Phase II at Roxy

8 - Fun Gallery on an opening night