Photographer Martha Cooper is best be known for her classic Hip-Hop Files book, but in my opinion, this lesser known, earlier series is her most powerful work. Street Play captures children at play in New York's Alphabet City in the 1970s. At that time Alphabet City (way before Turntable Lab and all those condos got there) was a prime example of urban decay: uncollected trash, abandoned cards, empty lots, and burned out buildings. Without any playgrounds to go to, the children created their own from these harsh surroundings and Cooper was there to document it. And even though this sounds like a grim setup, Cooper is successful in focusing on the positive, innocent side of things. This is some truly uplifting shit. Witness kids jumping from fire escapes to mattress piles, playing with fire hydrants, creating toys from trash, scaling 20 foot chain link fences, examining burned out cars, walking rooftops, launching pigeons, setting off fireworks, playing hoops with a trash can, building box forts, collecting bottles, drawing lines on the street, hopping buses, and so much more. Hardcover, black and white, 120 pages. Highest recommendation.

reviewed by the mgmnt