Alice Mizrachi
www.am-files.com
As a young girl Alice has always remembered being drawn to using her hands. From helping her dad work on cars to attending origami classes, she has always felt the impulse to create. Growing up in New York during the 80's, Alice was exposed to the growth of hip-hop and its culture. Her traditional upbringing and this new emerging subculture helped shape her style and aesthetic. Her work often illustrates the rawness and spontaneity of urban culture. Alice's work depicts the struggles of urban life and the simultaneous chaos and order of the city. Her art is often used as a platform to voice social and political issues of our time; the work illustrates the way she views the world around her. Alice has a strong desire to create art that is accessible to all people. From galleries to the streets she aims to show her vision to the world. She is enthusiastic about producing functional art and has worked with product designs ranging from clothing, accessories and snow/skate products. Her art continues to be an outlet for self-expression and communication of ideas. Alice Mizrachi is a 1999 graduate of Parsons School of Design. In her junior year she was granted a scholarship to study abroad at The Rietveld Art Acadamie in The Netherlands. She has since been an active part of the art community in New York.
Toofly
www.tooflynyc.com
Growing up in Corona, Queens, a young Toofly could not help but notice graffiti's raw street energy on city walls while commuting to school. Inspired by the calligraphy and illustration skills of talented 90s graffiti writers, she aspired to pave the way for female street artists. At the School of Visual Arts, she enhanced her illustration and graphic design skills, which allowed her to lend her unique female characters to various print and public art projects. Most recently, she has created her own artist line of t-shirts, bags, designer toys, and limited edition art prints bearing her signature character. Toofly's work has appeared in magazines such as Mass Appeal, Juxtapoz, Milk, URB and Honey, and has painted alongside some of todays most aclaimed New York graffiti artists. She has been featured in a number of books such as Graffiti Women: Street Art from Five Continents and Burning New York. Staying true to her roots, Toofly continues to paint, inspire, and empower women with her works.
THE YOUNITY COLLECTIVE
Petra Moser (Alexandra Kiesel & Petra)
Alexandra Kiesel
(Berlin)
Her fashion career started in Leipzig 2002, where she began an apprenticed as dressmaker. 2004 she finished and in the same year she started to study fashion design at the ãUniversity for fine Arts" in Berlin-Wei§ensee/ Germany. Since her study Alexandra did some exhibitions in Berlin and Basel with fashion or installations, mostly commenting the moving in society. In this time, she also began to create her own Fashion label ãfinn__k", which is selling out in Berlin and other german cities. Since March 2007 she is a stipendiary of the ãGerman National Academic Foundation."
Petra Moser
(Linz)
After her education at the "Prague Photoschool Austria", which was finished in 2003, she got hooked on photography and started to study at the "University for Fine Arts" in Linz/Austria. Since she is member of the backlab collective, which is a collective of artists in Austria, she got really active in doing her own things (beside university). One of her photoseries "my favourite t-shirt" was published in the gap-magazine (Vienna, Austria) in February 2007. And she did some exhibitions with her work in Linz. Her passion in photography is everything dealing with people and humanity. But always in the context of something else, like music or fashion.
www.servus.at/pet
Alexia Webster
(South Africa)
Alexia Webster was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa and has spent the past 3 years working as photojournalist throughout the African continent. Alexia's photographic work focuses mainly on themes of gender and economic imbalances through out the countries she has visited and as well as exploring issues facing communities and individuals displaced by conflict and violence. She has worked in Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, the D.R. Congo, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Zambia and South Africa, as well as on projects further a field, in China, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
Alexia studied African Literature and Film at Johannesburg's University of Witwatersrand and before becoming a photojournalist she directed and edited music videos and short documentaries on hip hop and urban culture and life in Johannesburg.
Amanda Lopez
(San Francisco)
Amanda Lopez grew up in Sacramento, California. She picked up her first camera in high school and has been taking pictures ever since. She is influenced by her Latino heritage, popular culture and her family. Her work has been published in a wide variety of publications such as the San Francisco Chronicle, Rolling stone Magazine, XXL and Hamburger eyes.
Amanda Lopez is a member of the female photography collective, Dandelion back. With the ladies of Dandelion black, Amanda has show work at San Francisco City Hall, The Space gallery and 111 Minna where she shared portraits she made at Sacramento's Annual Latino cultural day, Festival de la Familia.
(B.I.C) Catfight Crew
(Netherlands)
They call themselves Bitches in Control or simply BIC, but one thing is certain: these chicks aren't real bitches at all. F.Lady and Lowlita have been working together since 2003: they paint walls, print silk screened stuff and have their own fashion label HŸbsch & Hardcore. They make independent work, teach at workshops and also have their own female graffiti and street art magazine Catfight. Busy bees, those BIC's.
Cece Carpio
(TYS)
From the mountains of the Philippines to the urban scape of Brooklyn, Cece Carpio paints constantly. Equal parts illustrator, muralist and canvas painter, her work combines bold portraits, natural elements and historical moments to tell stories of the environment and communities she is part of. Her passion is to tell the stories of freedom fighters worldwide and everyday people struggling for a more dignified existence. She can often be found working in collaboration with other artists, painting with her crew-Trust Your Struggle, teaching arts education and traveling around the world in pursuit of inspiration, justice and the perfect wall. She has produced and exhibited work in the Philippines, Fiji Islands, Italy, Norway, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, California, and New York.
Diana McClure
(New York City)
Photographer and writer, Diana McClure, originally from Boston, currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Since graduating from Columbia University and The New School for Social Research where she received a Diamond Fellowship and her Masters degree, Diana has exhibited work in numerous prestigious galleries throughout the United States. Her photographs have been shown at the Philadelphia African American Museum, published in the Los Angeles Times, and were included in the juried Judy Chicago's Envisioning the Future project. Diana's writing has been published in such magazines as Art Asia Pacific, STUDIO: The Studio Museum in Harlem, and many others. Music, metaphysics and intuitive action drive her process and approach to artistic production. The conceptual basis underlying Diana's work rests in the notion of spiritual/human agency. Other interests relevant to her art practice include the transfer of energy into matter/form (organic, architectural, etc.) and travel. Diana is also Founder and Creative Director of Cultureserve.net a global art and culture news website.
Diana Schmertz
(New York City)
Born and raised in New York City, Diana Schmertz started painting at Music and Art High School at age 13. After completing her Bachelors in Fine Arts from Purchase College at the age of 19, she was accepted into De Ateliers 63 Residency program and awarded a two year grant to live and paint in Amsterdam, Holland. In addition to painting the past ten years she has completed a Masters of Science in Art Therapy and a Masters of Science in Art Education. Currently, Schmertz is painting and curating in New York City. You can contact her at dIANAsCHMERTZ@hotmail.com.
Faith 47
(South Africa)
South African based Faith47 loves sounds, colours, dusty small town roads, rebellion, small gestures, big cities, grey areas, the I-ching, electricity wires, complexities, simplicity, forgotten grimy spaces, graffiti, drawing, traveling. She really hates the way the world economic system is set up to benefit the few and starve the many, she dislikes modern animal farming methods, classicism, celebrity culture, generic fast food chains and bureaucracy. Her most favourite thing is seeing spontaneous beautiful moments and also the Zapatista national liberation army. She's been influenced by other writers, people, art, music, death and life.
Female Sneaker Fiend
(Boston)
Femalesneakerfiend.com is a multimedia art and social organizing project focused on sneakers and the girls who love them. Arriving on the scene in 2005 with the tag line "Don't sleep on the ladies!", FSF has truly started a movement. Its website and events focus on our mutual passion for kicks, and in so doing, bring together thousands of girls and women across nations, race, age, income, sexual orientation and sneaker style. To capture our spirit and style, we went to NYC graffiti artist Toofly for our FSF logo.
Flo Shapiro
(New York City)
Flo Schapiro is a street photographer obsessively drawn towards documenting NYC's pandemonium, graff, abandoned buildings and road trips. Her work has been exhibited in New York, Toronto, S‹o Paulo and Buenos Aires, and published in Spin magazine, the Village Voice, Vice, Beautiful Decay and Les Incorruptibles. She loves (and lives in) Brooklyn.
GMO$
(New York City)
Childhood car trips around the country exposed gmo$ to roadside attraction signs and billboards, which have inspired her brightly painted combinations of word and image. As a student in New York, street art caught her eye because tags, stencils and wheat pastes are able to cut through the visual overload of city life in much the same way as signs and billboards. As hip-hop began its rise to mainstream consciousness, gmo$ worked as an art director for Profile Records, which began the careers of Run-DMC. Gmo$ sometimes works as an illustrator and has an international client base. She has participated in group shows at Dam Stuhltrager and Supreme Trading, and now resides in Brooklyn.
Helene Ruiz
(New York City)
Helene Ruiz was born in New York City in 1958 and has been painting and drawing since childhood. Her father was the major influence in her creative interests and he always encouraged her to express herself through her art. He, being an artist himself, was her teacher, mentor and inspiration.
In 1973 Ms. Ruiz received a scholarship to study at The Metropolitan Museum of Art for a summer workshop. Her classes included a day with Salvador Dali who triggered her fascination with surrealism.
She has exhibited her works in numerous shows from New York City, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Two of those were solo exhibits, one at The Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building's gallery in Harlem, NY and the other at The Slantwall Gallery located in the Virginia Cultural Arts Center in Glenn Allen, VA.
In 2005, she received an artist grant from the Wheeler Foundation. Helene Ruiz lives and works out of her apartment in Bronx, NY.
Jennifer Grant
(New York City)
Jennifer Alicia Grant has been working as a photographer since 17. She has had several solo shows and publications. Because she came from a fairly "eventful" childhood and past, and photography was one of her only outlets, she also spends some of her time volunteering at a homeless shelter and in group homes teaching photography to high risk youth.
She is currently revamping series entitled "the seven deadly sins", collaborating with her ex-wife, Tracy Mostovoyy and her new girlfriend, Becky Slane. They are both awesome and so is she.
Live Life. Create> Destroy. Create Again. Indulge. Fuck. Feel _Something. Anything. Trust Me. Trust Yourself. Don't Believe The Hype. Make Them See What You Feel. Force It In Front Of Them. Make Them Smell It. Taste It. Touch It. Even If They Hate It. Make Art. Be Art.
Stay Gold.
Laylah Amatullah Barrayn
(New York City)
Laylah Amatullah Barrayn is a Brooklyn-based writer, photographer and curator. Her journalism has appeared in publications such as Essence, Vibe, Uptown, Mosaic and The Source with assignments that placed her in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Caribbean. She has exhibited her photography around the nation in galleries, museums and non-traditional spaces. Currently Laylah is the curator of The Gallery at Harriet's Alter Ego and she has been profiled in the latest issue of Trace magazine with her photography collective, She Shootin.
Lady Pink
(New York City)
Lady Pink was born in Ecuador, but raised in NYC. In 1979 she started writing graffiti and soon was well known as the only female capable of competing with the boys in the graffiti subculture. Pink painted subway trains from the years 1979-1985. She is considered a cult figure in the hip-hop subculture since the release of the motion picture "Wild Style" in 1982, in which she had a starring role. While still in high school she was already exhibiting paintings in art galleries, and at the age of 21 had her first solo show at the Moore College of Art. As a leading participant in the rise of graffiti-based art, Lady Pink's canvases have entered important art collections such as those of the Whitney Museum, the MET in New York City, the Brooklyn Museum and the Groningen Museum of Holland. She has established herself in the fine arts world, and her paintings are highly prized by collectors. Lady Pink continues to mature as an artist, producing ambitious murals commissioned for businesses and creating new paintings on canvas that express her unique personal vision.
Today she runs a small mural company with her artist husband Smith, creating massive works around New York City, constituting one of the few professional teams to originate from the graffiti subculture. Pink has mobilized artists into donating public art in culturally neglected communities. She also shares her 20 years of experience by holding mural workshops with kids and actively lecturing college students throughout the Northeast.
Lexi Bella
(New York City)
Lexi Bella is a professional artist living in Brooklyn, New York. After receiving an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art she crossed the turnpike and moved to NYC. Jumping into her world is more fun than swimming through a vat of raspberry lip gloss. She's the high priestess of the cult of beauty, cutting, pasting, and painting her way through her own brand of gorgeous frankensteins. Bon vivant and stone cold fox, Lexi Bella puts the "fine" in fine art.
Lisa Case
(New York City)
Communication complications cause crash case collages. Influences: Michigan 0-9 = Nature OCD, Florida 9-21 = gaming humid destruction, NYC/BK 21- = XXX and all that follows. 06 Graduate of The School of Visual Arts.
Mama Clothing (Gabriella)
(San Francisco)
Gabriella Davi-Khorasanee is the founder and designer of Mama, an internationally recognized ladies' contemporary line with its roots firmly planted in street wear. Much more than a clothing line, Mama has worked with Adidas, New Era, Montana Colors, Juicy Cosmetics and BijulesNYC to create innovative products that consistently raise the bar. Gabriella is also co-founder of M.I.S.S., a women's collective and online lifestyle, fashion and art magazine, as well as a partner in the hottest multi-faceted consulting company, Smoke and Mirrors Creative. Mama Clothing is more than a brand-it's a movement.
Mama is an attitude, smile, swing of a hip or flip of a finger. The Mama girl can hang uptown, or creep downtown. She's inspired and effortlessly inspires. Shifting from heels to kicks with a sexy swagger. She's the DJ in SF, B-Girl in LA, Art student in the UK and Editor in NYC-pushing herself to the next level and pushing stubborn boys out her way.
Feminine without being too girly, street but not thug, the Mama Girl is Always a Lady.
Martha Cooper
(New York City)
Martha Cooper is a documentary photographer who has specialized in urban vernacular art and architecture for over twenty-five years. In 1977, Martha moved to New York City and worked as a staff photographer on the NY Post for three years. During that time she began to shoot graffiti and break dancing, subjects which led to her extensive coverage of early Hip Hop as it emerged from the Bronx.
Martha's first book Subway Art, a collaboration with Henry Chalfant, is still in print after 23 years and is affectionately called the "Bible" by graffiti artists worldwide. Her next book, R.I.P.: Memorial Wall Art looks at memorial murals in NYC. Hip Hop Files 1980-1984 contains hundreds of rare, early Hip Hop photos. We B*Girlz is an intensive look at the world of B-girls worldwide, Street Play is her collection of Lower East side photos from the late 70's and New York State of Mind her photos from New York City in the 70's.
Martha's work has been widely exhibited in museums and galleries and published in numerous magazines from National Geographic to Vibe. She splits her time between Baltimore and Manhattan where she has been Director of Photography at City Lore, the New York Center for Urban Folk Culture for the past 20 years.
Meredith McNeal
(New York City)
Meridith McNeal is a Brooklyn based artist, curator, educator and arts administrator. She has curated over 80 contemporary exhibitions. Though not included in this short form resume, a full list of exhibitions curated available on request.
M.I.S.S. Crew
(San Francisco)
M.I.S.S.-MAMA is a collective and creative and talented woman who are business owners or working in the field of fashion, art, design, music,writing,dance, film, or media.
Muck (Jules Veros)
(New York City)
Muck was banned from art class in school. She was temperamental, and found it difficult to communicate with others. Whenever she was not painting the only solace she found was in drugs and alcohol. After being spurned from the academic world of art, Muck found herself heavily involved with drug trafficking in the south west. She escaped addiction and possible prosecution by fleeing to Europe where she was introduced to graffiti art. She painted in Greece and London before returning home to New York, where she she fell in with a group of Bronx writers. Muck spent most of her days racking paint and in the evening set out to get up and to go over rivals. Lady Pink found her on a roof top by the five line, they exchanged numbers and Muck began working as her assistant. It was this partnership that introduced Muck to the business of mural painting and the world of legal graffiti. Unfortunately around this time, police confrontations, arrests and court cases prompted Muck to stray from her beloved past time. No longer having anything to do with her evenings she fell hard back into addiction. Muck fought to keep her drug use under control, she continued to paint at legal jams and participate in shows but eventually the addiction took over. She was unable to finish jobs or keep commitments and was often seen passed out or blackout drunk at her own openings. After several confrontations, Muck fled New York and lived on the road, selling paintings to tourists from bourbon street to haight.
She eventually hit bottom on a small island off the coast of Turkey. Muck now lives a sober life in the north east where she paints to live.
Niz
(Texas)
Niz has been creating skateboard art, stencil art and other "object art" for several years. She was born in Lima, Peru in 1975 and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area when she was 12 years old. Niz has used her art to teach at risk youth about HIV, hepatitis, and overdose prevention. She continues to create art that educates and enlightens. Though her long standing focus has been skateboard art, she also works with stencils, vinyl, and other non-traditional surfaces and mediums. Her work and life have been heavily influenced by hip hop and punk rock culture, American pop culture, religion, spirituality, civil rights, traveling, skateboarding and urban culture. Niz resides in Austin, Texas.
Not Bad For A Girl
(United Kingdom)
Not Bad For a Girlª was officially launched in Sept 2006 by London based designer Karen Jane; after surviving years of self-employment, putting herself through college to come out with an MA at the Royal College of Art, freelancing through various London agencies and holding down her own projects. Although originally intended as a outlet for ideas rather than a label as such, the positive response has meant that NBFG has grown into a reality entirely through love over game plan.
"I was an eighties child growing up in a town in the middle of nowhere. I hung around with my older brother mostly tagging-along with him and his mates, doing stuff they did. I'd take my hands off the handle-bars going downhill even though I'd wipe-out. I'd climb trees even though I'd scrape my knees. I would risk a dead arm trying to sneak off with the latest Electro album on tape... But they were good times. Thing is, it just seemed that he got the better things to do, or so I thought back then. When I wasn't doing that stuff I'd spend time cutting letters out of paper, drawing on book covers and daydreaming about running my own business. Nowadays I'm a designer in this industry that we know is a little boy-heavy, but there's no need to tag-along. Things are changing, sure the guys are ok, but it's time to make room for the ladies..."
Not Bad For a Girlª is strictly for the Supafemaleª. By this we mean the creative and the conscious, those that like to geek out over music and design; those who are sharpening their skills to contribute the things that make a difference; and those that hustle every hour to provide for their children. Yes, 'Not Bad For a Girl' is a bit tongue in cheek, but the meaning is far from a joke - as our girlfriends are golden. With this in mind, NBFGª is for ourselves and our friends and families, inspired by the peaks and troughs of the daily grind. Coming out of London with positivity to reach those who relate...
Paulina von Ahlstrom
(New York City)
Paulina von Ahlstrom is a painter and video artist based in New York. She has participated in many professional artist projects since the age of 14, made her first film at 15, and a first solo show at 20. Her wide array of interests (painting, silk screening, photography, film making and acting among others) have helped her hone the skills of being a multi-disciplinary artist. She has studied in New York University, University of La Serena in Chile, and University of the Arts in Berlin, and has had her work shown at the Ex Gallery in Brooklyn, NY, the Anthology Film Archives, and Berlin, Germany. She lives and works in New York.
Queen Andrea
(New York City)
A native New Yorker, Andrea was raised in the vibrant Soho neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The daughter of two artists, Andrea's passion for urban art and graphic design surfaced at an early age. In the early 1990s, she began to learn graffiti history and developed important friendships and mentoring relationships with some of the most internationally notable New York City old school graffiti artists. As a young adult, Andrea attended the prestigious Parsons School of Design where she earned a BFA in Graphic Design. She then began a successful Graphic Design career, working for brands and companies who appreciate both the urban creative flavor of her work and her passionate knowledge of typography, branding and visual communication.
These days, she is one of the most traditionally skilled female graffiti artists in the country and is enthusiastically building her design and illustration portfolios. She has been featured in art shows, toy shows, magazines, books and fashion lines. As a versatile designer, her expertise spans many disciplines and styles including Editorial, advertising, logo, illustration and website design.
She has created customized art for high-end exhibitions, events and brands including Hasbro, KidRobot, Toy Tokyo, Osiris Shoes, Sprite, Scion, Jive Records, The Rocksteady Crew and Cleveland Public Art. She has also individually produced and curated urban art exhibitions and events.
Shiro
(Japan)
SHIRO is a female graffiti artist from Japan. She began painting in 1998 in Shizuoka, Japan. Shiro has been expressing her own vision of the world and for life through her original characters. Her colorful artwork is a reflection of her love for true hip-hop. Over the years she has been touched by the essence & soul of hip-hop culture and old school graffiti styles. Her devotion to graffiti art afforded her the opportunity to work with many great graffiti artists.The experience of working with these artists inspired Shiro creatively and fueled her mind and soul with the true spirit of hip-hop. As an international artist, she continues to be inspired by the strength and creativity of old-school hip-hop. Her love for hip-hop and its raw energy is displayed in her artistic vision and creative images. She decided to stay in NY and develop her talent as an artist.
From 2002 to 2004, she lived in Brooklyn and Queens, and could be found painting in the city on a regular basis. She has performed in various live painting events, participated in gallery art shows and been a part of graffiti crew gatherings in the world. She also participated in community awareness murals and other large-scale graffiti projects all over New York City and Japan. In Japan, Shiro has worked with people in the hip-hop industry, organizing graffiti shows and live painting events in her hometown of Shizuoka and participating in painting events in surrounding areas. In addition to her murals, she has worked on canvases, illustrations, and has designed and produced original theater stage decorations. She also works as a part time nurse in a hospital, caring people who need assistance in critical parts of their lives. Through her work within the medical field, she witnesses many drama which motivate and stimulate her. With these experiences which strengthen and broaden her perspectives on life, she continues to express this message through her artwork: "We exist RIGHT NOW, RIGHT HERE!"
Swoon
(New York City)
Swoon is a street artist from New York who specializes in life-size wheat paste prints and paper cutouts of figures. She started doing street art around 1999. She studied painting at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
Swoon does not release her real name to the public to avoid prosecution for vandalism crimes associated with street art.
Swoon's worlds are often populated by realistically rendered cut-out street people, often her friends and family. Riding bikes, talking on a stoop, going grocery shopping - these people traverse a cityscape of her own unique invention. Bridges, fire escapes, water towers and street signs create crisscrossing shadows and spaces through which her figures move. Inspired by both art historical and folk sources, ranging from German Expressionist wood block prints to Indonesian shadow puppets, Swoon uses cut paper to play with positive and negative space in a conceptually driven exploration of the experience of the streets.
Swoon has been covering the streets of New York with her signature cutouts for over six years. Often found in states of decay, her wheat-pasted cut outs "collaborate" with the street to create a time-based public artwork. In conjunction with her collective Toyshop, she has executed projects ranging from billboard alterations and poster campaigns, to street parties and sculptural installations. Her recent work has focused on creating peepholes throughout the city in subtle places where, once discovered, the viewer can glimpse a hidden dream world through the unassuming aperture.
"Her elaborate, larger-than-life paste-ups have earned New York artist Swoon a loyal following among street art aficionados-and major cultural institutions."[1]
Swoon has been traveling for the past two years creating exhibitions and workshops in the United States and Europe. Other collaborators include Brooklyn based art collectives, Glowlab, Black Label, Change Agent, the Madagascar Institute and the Barnstormers. Her work was included in P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center's Greater New York 2005, and appeared in Deitch Projects' special design district space art Art Basel Miami 2005 and at MOMA and the Brooklyn Museum in 2006.
"These portraits are x-rays of my city plastered back upon its surface. Through the hundreds of holes that I cut into them, I am trying to interact with the walls beneath them."
Vanilla Medallions
(new York City)
Vanilla Medallions was created in 2006 by Brooklyn based artist JEN ONE, with the intent of bringing unique home accessories to underground and urban minded people. Inspiration is drawn from many different cultures and subcultures, specifically within the art, music and fashion realms. Vanilla Medallions displays a strong emphasis on color, style and quality, while each piece is one-of-kind.
©2007 Younity. All Rights Reserved.
Design: Queen Andrea superfreshdesign.com