CAUSE I AM- THE UNTOLD STORY OF GRAFFITI ARTIST "DURO CIA TOP" THE NEWS BREAKER HIMSELF
FORWARD
By Henry Chalfant
DURO, TOP, CIA
One of the pleasures that I had during the time I was documenting graffiti was hearing the stories. The history of graffiti during the years it flourished on the trains of New York, is rich in tales of adventure, mishaps, close calls, outfoxing the cops and, yes, beef. As an outside observer, who never shared the writers' experience more than once or twice when I joined them in their exploits to take pictures, I knew that I would never be able to tell it as well as they could, those who were living it and for whom it was both an adventure and a creative act. We had different roles. Writers were creating, wanting fame and recognition, competing to get up and show their skills while I was engaged in amassing as many fresh documents as I could. I would listen to their stories, and watch them in action, but I had no way of experiencing the full sensation, the excitement, desire, ambition, fear, jealousy, hostility, schadenfreude, pride and sense of accomplishment. I could relay all this, but I always felt we were waiting for someone to come along who could tell the story from the inside; someone who had the verbal skill and storytelling knack to convey their experience to others. Now, thirty or forty years later, this has begun to happen, as artists in their maturity are beginning to reflect upon their youthful selves as graffiti Writers. Hey now have hindsight and enough knowledge of the world to be able to put their youthful games into a social context that they couldn't have understood before. Duro's memoir promises to be an important document that will share with the public the part he played in creating a culture which has had an impact upon the world that few could have imagined in its heyday. Duro's story is another brick in the history wall.
FORWARD
By Henry Chalfant
DURO, TOP, CIA
One of the pleasures that I had during the time I was documenting graffiti was hearing the stories. The history of graffiti during the years it flourished on the trains of New York, is rich in tales of adventure, mishaps, close calls, outfoxing the cops and, yes, beef. As an outside observer, who never shared the writers' experience more than once or twice when I joined them in their exploits to take pictures, I knew that I would never be able to tell it as well as they could, those who were living it and for whom it was both an adventure and a creative act. We had different roles. Writers were creating, wanting fame and recognition, competing to get up and show their skills while I was engaged in amassing as many fresh documents as I could. I would listen to their stories, and watch them in action, but I had no way of experiencing the full sensation, the excitement, desire, ambition, fear, jealousy, hostility, schadenfreude, pride and sense of accomplishment. I could relay all this, but I always felt we were waiting for someone to come along who could tell the story from the inside; someone who had the verbal skill and storytelling knack to convey their experience to others. Now, thirty or forty years later, this has begun to happen, as artists in their maturity are beginning to reflect upon their youthful selves as graffiti Writers. Hey now have hindsight and enough knowledge of the world to be able to put their youthful games into a social context that they couldn't have understood before. Duro's memoir promises to be an important document that will share with the public the part he played in creating a culture which has had an impact upon the world that few could have imagined in its heyday. Duro's story is another brick in the history wall.
FORWARD
By Henry Chalfant
DURO, TOP, CIA
One of the pleasures that I had during the time I was documenting graffiti was hearing the stories. The history of graffiti during the years it flourished on the trains of New York, is rich in tales of adventure, mishaps, close calls, outfoxing the cops and, yes, beef. As an outside observer, who never shared the writers' experience more than once or twice when I joined them in their exploits to take pictures, I knew that I would never be able to tell it as well as they could, those who were living it and for whom it was both an adventure and a creative act. We had different roles. Writers were creating, wanting fame and recognition, competing to get up and show their skills while I was engaged in amassing as many fresh documents as I could. I would listen to their stories, and watch them in action, but I had no way of experiencing the full sensation, the excitement, desire, ambition, fear, jealousy, hostility, schadenfreude, pride and sense of accomplishment. I could relay all this, but I always felt we were waiting for someone to come along who could tell the story from the inside; someone who had the verbal skill and storytelling knack to convey their experience to others. Now, thirty or forty years later, this has begun to happen, as artists in their maturity are beginning to reflect upon their youthful selves as graffiti Writers. Hey now have hindsight and enough knowledge of the world to be able to put their youthful games into a social context that they couldn't have understood before. Duro's memoir promises to be an important document that will share with the public the part he played in creating a culture which has had an impact upon the world that few could have imagined in its heyday. Duro's story is another brick in the history wall.