SOPHIE BRAMLY (B. 1959)

Walk This Way Box set

photographic prints on Baryta paper

Four prints: 16 x 20 inches (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

Twelve prints: 7 x 9 1/2 inches (17.8 x 24.1 cm)

Nine prints: 5 1/4 x 7 1/4 inches (13.3 x 18.4 cm)

Twenty-two prints: 11 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches (29.2 x 24.1 cm)

Executed in 1983. Published in 2015. This work is number 2 from an edition of 5 plus 2 Arist's proofs. Published by Editions 213, Paris, France.

NOTES:

This deluxe box set comprises 47 photographs by Sophie Bramly, taken between 1981 and 1983 during her immersive documentation of New York’s early hip-hop scene. Printed on Baryta paper under the supervision of the artist at Janvier studio in Paris, each image captures a moment from the cultural underground that would come to define a global movement: featuring intimate portraits of Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Fab 5 Freddy, the Rock Steady Crew, and more. Sophie is particularly fond of the graphical nature and the different layers inside with the red ribbons which give something special to the photos. It reminds her of how she views it - there is always more to be seen, it’s a culture with so many different layers to study.

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.

The edition was released to accompany the publication of Walk This Way, Bramly’s landmark 2015 book, and issued in a total of five numbered copies plus two artist’s proofs. The photographs are housed in a custom archival clamshell box with printed title page and colophon, hand-numbered and signed by the artist. This set is a rare and comprehensive visual record of hip-hop’s formative years, this boxed portfolio offers unprecedented access to the personal, political, and aesthetic origins of a cultural transformation.

Details of the 47 prints will be available upon request.