Janette Beckman, Rebel Culture, 2014

Exhibition Checklist 1. The Go Hard Boyz Harlem Bike Club 2013 2. The Go Hard Boyz Harlem Bike Club 2013 3. Big Daddy Kane 1988 Manhattan, NY 4. Afrika Bambaataa and members of the Zulu Nation 1983 Bronx, NY 5. Flavor Flav, Public Enemy 1987 Manhattan, NY

6. LL Cool J 1985 Manhattan, NY (cover)

11. Run-DMC and posse 1984 Hollis, Queens, NY

7. Chuck D, Public Enemy 1987 Manhattan, NY

12. MC Lyte, Master T, Big Drew, and K Rock 1990 Brooklyn, NY

8. Jam Master Jay and his son 1991 Manhattan, NY

13. Ice Cube 1990 Inglewood, CA

9. Salt ‘n Pepa 1987 Manhattan, NY

14. EPMD; Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith 1989 Babylon, Long Island, NY

10. Slick Rick 1989 Manhattan, NY

15. Grandmixer DST 1982 London, UK

This project is supported by:

Sherwood Foundation Peter Kiewit Foundation Annette and Paul Smith Carol Gendler Carver Bank 2416 Lake Street Omaha, NE 68111 bemiscenter.org/carverbank Tues - Sat | 10:30-4:00

JANETTE BECKMAN Rebel Culture: Legends of Hip Hop and the Go Hard Boyz (Harlem Bikers) September 02 - November 29, 2014 | Carver Bank

Bemis Center artist-in-residence Janette Beckman has always had a fascination with alternative music scenes and street culture. With an eye for rebel culture, she often works on city streets, particularly those of New York, her adopted home.

The photographs in this exhibition include some of the most iconic images ever created of the early days of hip hop—including early images of Run DMC, Big Daddy Kane, Salt-N-Pepa, and a young LL Cool J. Beckman came to New York in 1982, at a time when hip hop was in its infancy. Beckman recalls that she “fell right into the emerging hip hop scene, trains covered in graffiti, kids with boom boxes rhyming on the subway, street vendors selling hoop earrings and mix tapes.” Beckman’s photographs are characterized by her ability to capture the raw essence of her subjects.

Most recently, Beckman’s passion for street culture has led her to focus on the Harlem Go Hard Boyz dirt-bike club riders as subjects for a new body of work. Through her photographs, blending documentary honesty and formal rigor, Beckman captures the spirit and attitude that has brought the Go Hard Boyz a measure of national recognition.

Beckman’s approach to her photographic practice is really a collaboration between Beckman and her subjects. She doesn’t dictate or arrange her shots, but works with her subjects to capture moments of honesty, where the subject, not the photographer comes to the fore.

As part of her residency at the Bemis, Beckman will also collaborate with local poet and Spoken Word performer

Felicia Webster on “Photojournalism and Spoken Word Stories,” a series of workshops for area teens. Using digital cameras, the teens will compile images of their daily lives in North Omaha into a photo documentary, which will integrate written and spoken word poems to express the reflections of their journeys.

About Janette Beckman Londoner Janette Beckman began her career at the dawn of punk rock working for The Face and Melody Maker. She shot bands from The Clash to Boy George as well as three Police album covers. She later moved to New York at the dawn of the hip hop era, becoming one of the leading documentarians of the movement.

Her photographs have been exhibited at HVW8 (Los Angeles), Analogue (Toronto), Belleville (Paris), Project Space (Los Angeles), Blender Gallery (Sydney), and Proud Gallery (London), among others. Her work has been collected in three volumes, including: Made in the UK: The Music of Attitude, 1977-1982 (PowerHouseBooks 2005); The Breaks, Stylin and Profilin 19821990 (PowerHouse Books 2007); and El Hoyo Maravilla (Dashwood Books 2011).

About Bemis Center Founded in 1981, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts supports artists from around the world as they research and develop new ideas and new work in Omaha, Nebraska, that engage global and local communities.

The Bemis residency program has been recognized as “one of the great treasures of its kind in the country”

by Jane Alexander, former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, and as one of the “Top 10 residencies around the planet” by Art Info.

Go Hard Boyz

Run-DMC and posse

Go Hard Boyz

EPMD; Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith

Go Hard Boyz

MC Lyte, Master T, Big Drew, and K Rock

Go Hard Boyz