Title: The Visual Communication Between the Boroughs

Graffiti Writer 1: J.SON

Train Line 1: 2 Train Line (1965-1983)

Train Line 2: 5 Train Line

Memory: The moving canvases of the subway trains gained graffiti writers access to the far reaches of all the boroughs in ways that other forms of graffiti - from walls to busses - couldn't. The subways were a form of visual communication for writers all around the city:

In their famed book Subway Art authors and photographers Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper write:

"The subway is a communication network on which the names and messages of graffiti writers circulate throughout the city. Kids begin watching trains early and they are thoroughly familiar with the names and styles of the 'up writers' long before they attempt writing themselves. A youngster starting out finds a new community, focused on the subway, which brings together kids from all over the city. He gets a new identity in a group which has its own values and rules. He find the particular subway stations where other writers congregate and where they form new alliances that transcend the old parochial neighborhood and traditional gang territory."

Year: None

Citation: Chalfant, H & Cooper, M. (1984). Subway Art (pp. 23). New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc.