WORD: LIFE Panel | The Culture is Visual: Hip Hop Photography

Moderator:
Michelle Willems
Panelists:
Mel D. Cole
Martha Cooper
Sue Kwon
Ernie Paniccioli
Context:
While the words of hip hop journalism lionized rappers and minted them as stars with Horatio Alger-tales of rags to riches, it was the images that often canonized them. Photographs of artists in the ‘70s and ‘80s are intimate portraits of a burgeoning scene. By the ‘90s and turn of the century, as hip hop became a global phenomenon, often visuals would capture the quieter moments between artist’s larger than life exploits. This conversation will center around all those moments and the observations of the photographers that were able to capture some of rap’s most historic memories.
Featured panelists include Ernie Paniccioli, the former principal photographer for Word Up! magazine and longtime visual documentarian covering hip hop; Martha Cooper, a landmark chronicler of New York’s graffiti and dance scenes; Sue Kwon, a photographic contributor to The Source and the Village Voice and Mel. D. Cole, an award-winning photographer who’s known both for his portraits of hip hop artists and his photojournalism. Moderating the panel is Michelle Williams, former art director for Honey Magazine and Tommy Boy records.
Sample credits:
Mel D. Cole, GREAT: Pictures of Hip Hop 2002-2019 (Book: Self, 2019)
Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper, Subway Art (Book: Thames & Hudson, 1984)
Martha Cooper, We B*Girlz, (Book: powerHouse, 2005)
Sue Kwon, Rap Is Risen: New York Photographs 1988-2008 (Book: Testify, 2021)
Ernie Paniccioli, Hip hop At the End of the World (Book: Rizzoli, 2018)
Ernie Paniccioli, Who Shot Ya? Three Decades of HipHop Photography (Book: Harper Collins, 2013)
Bonus tracks:
Digital Collection, Ernie Paniccioli Photo Archive (Archive: Cornell, 2012))
Jamel Shabazz, Back in the Days (Book: PowerHouse, 2001

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