ART IS NOT A CRIME

From Friday, October 9, 2026, through Saturday, March 13, 2027, STRAAT presents ART IS NOT A CRIME. Henry Chalfant: Capturing graffiti culture, NYC, 1977–1987. The exhibition highlights the legacy of photographer and documentary maker Henry Chalfant (United States, 1940), who shapes graffiti culture to this day through his work and personality. It is the first major overview in the Netherlands that approaches graffiti from its own documentary core. Photography with an eye for scale, quality, and exposure time

Full-size subway cars, over three meters high, draw you into the exhibition space. Chalfant photographed with an eye for scale, quality, and exposure time, thus building a monumental archive that places the visitor right in the middle of the action.

Discover also how this archive found its way to Amsterdam: in 1984, Chalfant exhibited his photographs in Yaki Kornblit's gallery on Willemsparkweg. The work inspired a generation of young people there and formed the basis of an international cultural development that lives on to this day.

ART IS NOT A CRIME shows how Chalfant's lens captured graffiti culture at true scale and formed the basis of the Dutch graffiti scene.

The content was curated by curator SUSO33. Dutch Graffiti Library acts as guest curator and contributes to the connection with Dutch graffiti history from its archive.