Photographer Gusmano Cesaretti, and graffiti artist Chaz Bojórquez

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 5 October 2021

⏱️ 53 minutes

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Summary

The photography book Street Writers: A Guided Tour Of Chicano Graffiti was first published in 1975. To the extent that a photography book can be a cult classic, Street Writers is one. The book featured black and white photographs, mostly portraits, all shot in and around Los Angeles' East side. In Street Writers, you see a lot of young people – teenagers, children, young adults. They're sitting on bleachers, playing in the storm drain, jogging past a liquor store. It was all shot by this young Italian photographer – Gusmano Cesaretti. And pretty much all of Gusmano's photos have one thing in common: graffiti. Street Writers was re-published earlier this year for the first time in decades. Jesse Thorn talked with Gusmano, and Chaz Bojórquez , a veteran street artist and one of the book's original subjects. They'll talk about how the Los Angeles neighborhoods Gusmano photographed have changed. Plus, Chaz on his decades long career as a graffiti artist, and the thrill he gets knowing he's never been caught doing graffiti.

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:21.0	It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn. In 1975, this photography book came out called Street
0:27.2	Riders. It had black and white photographs, mostly portraits, shot in and around the east
0:32.8	side of Los Angeles. In Street Riders, you see a lot of young people, teenagers, children,
0:38.5	young adults. They're sitting on bleachers, playing in the storm drain, jogging past the
0:43.3	liquor store. All of this was shot by this young Italian photographer, Guzmano Cesareti.
0:50.3	And pretty much all of Cesareti's photos have one thing in common, graffiti. On the walls
0:56.7	of shops, on abandoned buildings, on the riverbank, pretty much any blank canvas. And if, when
1:03.2	I say graffiti, you think of, you know, big colorful bubble letters, this isn't that.
1:10.2	It's sparse. The script is jagged and strange, but it's also neat and uniform, almost
1:16.8	like ancient runes. Alongside the writing, you might see the occasional skull, but that's
1:22.6	basically it. Back then, in LA, it was about writing, about telling the world these streets,
1:29.8	this neighborhood, belongs to us. Cesareti's photography in the book is arresting and dramatic.
1:37.8	He's compassionate towards his subjects and honest about the circumstances in which
1:41.9	they live. Street Riders, the book, has been out of print for a long time. If you're
1:48.0	looking for an original copy, it could run you $700 online. But there's good news.
1:54.2	Street Riders, a guided tour of Chicano graffiti, is again in print. For the first time in
1:59.2	decades, it's available now in a beautiful, expanded, hardcovered edition. To commemorate
2:05.1	the new book, I talked with Cesareti, the photographer, and Chaz Bajorquez, a veteran
2:10.6	street artist and one of the book's original subjects. Let's get into it.
2:20.6	Guzmano, Chaz, welcome to Bullseye. It's great to have you on this show. The book is totally
2:23.8	incredible. Great. Chaz, I want to start a little bit with your story. How deep does your
	...

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