JOHN: ON THIS LAST WEEKEND OF HISPANIC HERITAGE MUCH THE STORY OF A GRAFFITI ARTIST WHO HAS HELPED BRING THE MEDIUM INTO THE MAINSTREAM AND ALONG THE WAY GIVE VOICE TO LATINO ARTISTS.
IT IS PART OF OUR SERIES, HIDDEN HISTORIES.
THESE DAYS, THE WORKS OF LADY PINK ARE IN THE COLLECTIONS OF BIG NEW YORK ART MUSEUMS LIKE THE WHITNEY AND THE METROPOLITAN.
BUT NEW YORK SUBWAY CARS WERE HER FIRST CANVAS.
>> GRAFFITI IS MORE THAN JUST A STYLE, IT’S A CULTURE.
IT’S AN ENTIRE CULTURE.
IT’S AN UNDERGROUND CULTURE, THERE’S THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF KIDS.
EVERYONE KNOWS EACH OTHER, IT’S LIKE FAMILY, AND THE WAY YOU DRESS THE WAY YOU TALK, THE WAY YOU ACT, THE WAY YOU WRITE, IT’S ALL GRAFFITI.
JOHN: BORN IN ECUADOR IN 1964 TO A SEAMSTRESS AND AN ARCHITECT, SHE ALWAYS HAD ARTISTIC ASPIRATIONS.
WHEN SHE WAS SEVEN, HER FAMILY MOVED TO QUEENS.
AS A TEENAGER, SHE BEGAN ‘WRITING’, AS SPRAY-PAINTING GRAFFITI IS CALLED.
SHE TAGGED HER WORK “LADY PINK” BECAUSE SHE WAS THOUGHT TO BE THE CITY’S ONLY FEMALE GRAFFITI ARTIST AT THE TIME AND BECAUSE, SHE SAID, SHE LOVED VICTORIAN ROMANCES.
GRAFFITI ARTISTS COMPETED TO LEAVE THEIR WORK IN THE MOST DANGEROUS AND INACCESSIBLE PLACES, A SUBWAY TRAIN WAS THE ULTIMATE.
SHE SAID SHE LOVED THE THRILL BUT WORRIED ABOUT ARREST, SOMETHING SHE DEPICTED IN A 1981 PAINTING.
>> IT’S CALLED ‘MANIC DEPRESSION’ AND IT’S MY VISION OF WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO ME IF I HAD BEEN ARRESTED AS A TEENAGER FOR WRITING GRAFFITI.
I’D GET THROWN IN JAIL WITH OTHER REAL CRIMINALS.
WE DIDN’T CONSIDER OURSELVES HARDCORE CRIMINALS, YOU KNOW, IN ANY WAY.
WE WERE JUST PLAYING AROUND BUT .
BUT THE REALITY IS THAT PEOPLE GET HURT, THEY GET ARRESTED.
YOUR LIVES ARE RUINED.
JOHN: AS THE MAINSTREAM ART WORLD BECAME MORE INTERESTED IN GRAFFITI, HER WORK MOVED FROM SUBWAY CARS TO GALLERIES IN NEW YORK AND PARIS.
SHE WAS COMMISSIONED TO CREATE MURALS AROUND THE WORLD, UKRAINE, SWEDEN, AND HER NATIVE ECUADOR.
HER RECOGNITION GREW EVEN MORE WHEN IN SHE STARRED IN THE 1982 INDEPENDENT FILM ‘WILD STYLE’, A LOVE LETTER TO GRAFFITI ARTISTS THAT’S REGARDED AS THE FIRST HIP-HOP MOVIE.
HER ART IS PRAISED FOR ITS LATINA AND FEMINIST STYLE, AND FOR TACKLING ISSUES OF SOCIAL JUSTICE, BECOMING TOOLS FOR ACTIVISM AND CHANGE.
TODAY, LADY PINK REMAINS ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL FEMALE ARTIST.