From a Females Perspective, A Interview with, The NYC Queen Lady of Graffiti, The Legendary, LADY

Sandra Fabara was raised in Queens. She started her graffiti writing career in 1979 following the loss of a boyfriend who had been sent to live in Puerto Rico after he had been arrested. She exorcised her grief by tagging her boyfriend's name across the city. Soon after she started tagging the name Lady Pink, derived from her love of historical romances, England, the Victorian period, and the aristocracy. Lady Pink studied at the High School of Art & Design in Manhattan. While a student there she was introduced to graffiti and began writing at age fifteen. Within a few years LADY PINK began running with TC5 (The Cool 5) and TPA (The Public Animals) crews. Lady Pink painted New York City Subway trains from 1978 to 1985. In 1980, she was included in the landmark New York show “GAS: Graffiti Art Success” at Fashion Moda, which traveled in a modified form downtown to The New Museum of Contemporary Art. Young, approachable, quick-witted, and one of the only female graffiti writers, Lady Pink became among the most photographed and interviewed graffiti artist of her time.

In 1983, she appeared in theaters in the starring role of Rose in Charlie Ahearn’s film Wild Style.That same year, she worked on a series of large scale paintings with artist Jenny Holzer, the pair have since collaborated several times. While still in high school she was already exhibiting paintings in art galleries, and by age twenty-one, she mounted her first solo show, “Femmes-Fatales, “ at the Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia. After 1987, Lady Pink took a hiatus from painting outdoors, but she returned in 1993 after meeting her future husband, fellow graffiti legend SMITH, with whom she collaborates on murals and commercial work. Her studio paintings, often incorporating images of New York City Subway trains weaving through decaying, POP-surrealist cityscapes, have been widely exhibited throughout the United States and abroad.