Henry Chalfant is an American photographer, videographer, and sculptor best known for his pioneering work chronicling New York City’s graffiti and hip-hop culture.

Beginning in 1977, Chalfant started photographing graffiti on the subway cars of New York City, capturing hundreds of ephemeral artworks by legendary writers such as Lee, Dondi, Skeme, Blade, Cap and Seen. His technique, shooting from one position while the train moved, allowed him to create single, highly detailed images constructed from multiple exposures, setting a standard for graffiti documentation worldwide. Over his career, he amassed an archive of more than 1,500 photographs that preserve a visual record of a fleeting urban art movement.  

Chalfant co-authored Subway Art with Martha Cooper, a seminal book often referred to as the “Bible” of graffiti, and later co-authored Spraycan Art, which documented the global spread of the phenomenon.

In 1983, Chalfant co-produced Style Wars with director Tony Silver, a groundbreaking PBS documentary that explored the battle over public space between the city’s authorities and its graffiti writers, while also highlighting the parallel rise of breakdancing, MCing, and DJing. Style Wars became the first major film to capture hip-hop culture in its infancy, giving a global audience a look at the voices, rivalries, and creativity of New York youth. It went on to win the Grand Prize for Documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival, cementing Chalfant’s role as both participant and historian in the culture’s early years.

Today, his photographs are housed in major exhibitions and collections worldwide, including retrospectives like Art vs. Transit, 1977–1987 at the Bronx Museum, ensuring his legacy as the preeminent visual chronicler of New York’s graffiti and hip-hop era.

AVE for Living Proof Radio, full episode on the Living Proof Patreon. 
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Anthony Van Engelen is a legendary professional skateboarder who emerged in the mid-1990s as part of a new generation pushing street skating. With parts in some of the most influential skate videos of all time, including Photosynthesis, Mind Field, and Vans’ Propeller; where his performance earned him Thrasher Magazine’s Skater of the Year award in 2015.

He co-founded FA alongside Jason Dill, building it into one of the most pivotal skate brands of the last decade. As a long-time Vans team rider, he has also collaborated on multiple pro shoe models.

Leo Fitzpatrick for Living Proof Radio, full episode on the Living Proof Patreon. 

Leo Fitzpatrick is an artist and actor who first caught public attention as Telly in Larry Clark’s controversial 1995 film Kids; a performance that earned him both acclaim and harassment, as some viewers confused him with his character and even blamed him for the film’s fictional misdeeds.

Aside from acting, Fitzpatrick co‐founded the experimental New York gallery Home Alone Gallery in 2012, later becoming a co-director at the Marlborough Chelsea gallery in Manhattan. His gallery Public Access provided an accessible approach to art to both the viewers and artists that was less common within the New York gallery space.

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Larry Clark for Living Proof Radio: Full episode now available on the Living Proof Patreon.

Larry Clark is an American photographer and filmmaker known for his unflinching approach to his work. Clark emerged in the 1960s as a pioneering voice documenting youth culture from the inside out. Rather than observe from a distance, he embedded himself within the communities he photographed: skaters, drug users, misfits, and outsiders, offering a perspective that was intimate. His work often draws from his own experiences with addiction, adolescence, and rebellion, making him both a chronicler and participant in the worlds he captures.

Clark’s breakout photo book Tulsa (1971) was a portrait of young people in his hometown navigating drugs, sex, and violence. The book was groundbreaking in its honesty, setting the tone for Clark’s future work. In 1995, he directed Kids, a controversial and iconic film that followed a group of New York City teenagers through a single day of sex, drugs, and recklessness. Written by then-teenager Harmony Korine, Kids was praised and condemned in equal measure, but undeniably influential cementing Clark’s legacy as an artist unafraid to expose the underbelly of youth culture with brutal honesty. 

Larry Clark in conversation with William Strobeck. 

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Ruby Neri, also known by her graffiti name Reminisce, emerged as a prominent figure during the golden era of San Francisco’s graffiti scene in the 1990s. She immersed herself in the Bay Area’s graffiti culture, painting, shoplifting and hanging alongside figures such as KR, AMAZE, Barry McGee (TWIST), Margaret Kilgallen (RIP) & Alicia McCarthy; all of whom helped define the street graffiti & art scene of the time. 

Rather than a classic throw-up, her graffiti focused on riderless horses that appeared across the Mission District. Her horses became iconic and are considered a classic amongst the Bay Area scene.

By the mid-1990s, Neri shifted from graffiti to studio practice, pursuing an MFA at UCLA and exploring new media; particularly ceramics. Over time, she grew tired of the adjacent phenomena that come with the culture of graffiti. She moved away from graffiti to sculptural vessels and figurative ceramic forms. Her ceramic works, often marked by vibrant sprayed glazes and stylized female figures, maintained a connection to her past as Reminisce. In recent years, Neri has returned to painting, bringing her career full circle. Today, Neri’s work bridges the raw immediacy of graffiti with the refinement of fine art. She is a key figure in the evolution of Bay Area art from underground to institutional recognition.

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Futura 2000 in conversation with Chino BYI.

Futura 2000 is a legendary graffiti writer, designer, and painter who emerged in the 1970s as part of New York City's first wave of subway graffiti writers.

He began tagging subway trains under the name "Futura 2000" and was one of the first artists to bring graffiti into galleries. In the early 1980s, he collaborated with The Clash, painting live on stage during their concerts and designing artwork for their albums, which helped introduce graffiti to a broader international audience.

His work spans fine art, fashion, and commercial collaborations. He’s partnered with brands like Nike, Supreme, Levi’s, BMW, and Off-White, often blurring the lines between street culture and high design. He’s also known for his character "Pointman", a recurring figure in his art and toy design.

Today, Futura is celebrated as a pioneer whose influence has shaped generations of artists across disciplines.

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Full episode on the Living Proof Patreon: http://patreon.com/livingproofnewyork

Beatrice Domond is a professional skateboarder who spent her early years skating solo in a small town in Florida. Filming herself skating her nearby park or backyard alongside her little brother, she found William Strobeck’s email from his old website and began sending him clips. Strobeck showed the videos to Jason Dill, forming Beatrice’s initial connection to FA.

She was featured in early Supreme videos and has consistently championed FA; having made her own FA shirts by hand in Florida before she could afford them, now having a full collection with the company, it being the first woman’s collection. Beatrice became a professional rider for FA in 2022.

Now living in New York City, Beatrice remains active within skating, fashion collaborations, and design. Her sponsors include FA, Supreme, Vans, DB journey, Yerba Madre, Spitfire Wheels & Venture Trucks.

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Full episode now on the Living Proof Patreon. 

Dustin Dollin is one of the original members of both Baker Skateboards and the infamous Piss Drunx crew. His parts in Baker 2G, Baker 3 and Volcom’s Let’s Live left a lasting impression on an entire generation of skateboarders. Dollin joined Baker in 1999 and became a defining figure of the crew, creating a legacy as one of the most iconic personalities to come out of skating during his era. 

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Full episode on the Living Proof Patreon. William Strobeck for Living Proof Radio.

Through decades of work behind a camera, William Strobeck’s auteurship and taste has been massively influential in shaping the look of today’s era of skateboarding.

Strobeck was born in Syracuse, New York, and moved to Philadelphia as a teenager, where he skated and filmed at the legendary Love Park. Within a few years, he began working with Alien Workshop filming for Photosynthesis (2000), and moved to New York City shortly afterwards. Becoming immersed in the city’s downtown scene, Strobeck would continue his work in filmmaking, and was eventually brought on board by Supreme for their full-length video, Cherry (2014).

Strobeck featured a number of young skaters he had been filming with in New York, introducing the world to a new generation of stars including Tyshawn Jones, Sage Elsesser, Sean Pablo, Aiden Mackey, Ben Kadow, Nakel Smith and Kevin Bradley. The release of Cherry is looked back on as a major turning point within skate-culture, and marked a noticeable change in skate videos moving forward. Filmers everywhere would soon mimic his signature style of cinematography, use of B-roll footage, and eclectic soundtracking in their videos.

Today, Strobeck continues to film for Supreme, and in October of 2021 he founded Violet, his own skateboard company with a team comprised of Troy Gipson, Kader Sylla, Efron Danzig, Patrick O’Mara, Mike Ward, Joseph Campos, Kris Brown, Kyle Teh, Auguste Bouznad, Jax Effs and Seven Strong.

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Full episode on Patreon - Greg Hunt is a skateboarding videographer and filmmaker celebrated for his approach to documenting skate culture. He directed Vans' first full-length skate video, Propeller, featuring the likes of Anthony Van Engelen, Tony Trujillo, Geoff Rowley, amongst others.

He has also played a vital role in the making of all time classic skate videos like Mind Field, The DC Video and the solo part Dylan. More recently, he has collaborated with Adidas Skateboarding on projects like Kader in New York City.

Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Hunt began his career as a sponsored skateboarder before transitioning into filmmaking. His early experiences skating in San Francisco during the early '90s influenced his perspective and video-style. 

In addition to his video work, Hunt has engaged in photography, notably documenting skater Jason Dill over 15 years, culminating in a published photo book. 

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