“From New York and Los Angeles to the Brazilian mega-cities, South African townships, and Mumbai, authors Roger Gastman, Caleb Neelon, and Anthony Smyrski highlight cultural hotspots around the world. Divided into more than 50 topics and illustrated with more than 500 photographs, this book celebrates the street as a stage for the visual creativity of a generation.”
As the quote above illustrates, the authors of Street World brought us a great book. I came across it couple of weeks ago at my local library and its been sitting on my coffee table ever since. Every once in a while I pick it up and go through a couple of new pages filled with great imagerary and a small piece of text.
The book brings us a collection of over 1,000 pictures on street art and city life from multiple hotspots around the world. Japanese skateboarders are followed by graffiti murals in Brazil or the early hip hop scene in NY city.
“Ever since hip-hop and punk music rose from the ashes of urban blight to become two of the most potent youth culture movements of the twentieth century, the world’s streets have taken center stage as vibrant sites of creativity. And in less than a generation, thanks to ease of travel and the Internet, a new global street culture has emerged, bringing all of the world’s diverse subcultures and modes of urban expression together: graffiti, skateboarding and bike messengering, DJing, offbeat fashion, gang life, music, as well as design, photography, and other more traditional visual art.”
Its the the first book to record all these phenomena and a must have/read. Street World: urban culture from five continents by Roger Gastman, Caleb Neelon & Anthony Smyrski is available over at Amazon and off course several libraries near you. I suggest you check it Out.
Tagged: book review, street world, urban culture, worldwide
