Rafael Rashid

Broken Windows — Graffiti NYC documents the flowering of the graffiti movement of the post-train era, and this newly revised 2010 edition has been completely redesigned with 70 more pages and many new photographs from the era.

In the 1980’s graffiti was pushed out of the subways as the trains were cleaned once and for all. In the 1990’s, much of the graffiti action in New York migrated to the city’s walls, enabling the ‘writers’ to execute more refined and concept-driven large-scale pieces. By the end of decade, this new medium was being used to great effect.

Photographers James & Karla Murray took great pains to faithfully capture an unprecedented re-birth of the movement, documenting the most significant murals created between 1996 – 2001.

Broken Windows contains insightful interviews, an extensive selection of womens’ graffiti, and features the work of more than 180 artists from The United States, Germany, France, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Holland, Italy, and Norway.

Rafael Rashid aka Raph travelled for 4 years to take shots of the intimate-creative labs of the producers. “I like J Dilla’. So minimal and open… He didn’t have lots of equipment, and one of the aims of the book was to show that producers can do their thing with limited gear and at home… It’s more about what you do than what you have…”