[Charlie Ahearn] The Deadly Art of Survival

New York: Fashion Moda, [1979]. Offset on orange stock. 14 x 8 1/2 in. Near fine. Item #6117

Large double-sided flyer for the release of Charlie Ahearn’s Deadly Art of Survival. The film premiered at Fashion Moda in the South Bronx four years before the groundbreaking Wild Style in 1983.

Shortly after Ahearn’s arrival to New York City in 1973, he happened upon young people practicing martial arts outside the Alfred E. Smith housing projects in the Lower East Side. Captivated by the practice, and a long-time fan of kung fu movies, Ahearn began to film them. This early filmmaking was Ahearn’s entrance into the Black New York underground art scene that would serve as the focus of much of his later work. The Deadly Art of Survival, shot on a super 8 camera, is Ahearn’s homage to the kung fu genre.

Fashion Moda (1978 - 1993) was an art space located in the South Bronx that was instrumental to the growth of hip hop and graffiti in the 1980s. Artists such as Futura, NOC 167, Crash, and Jane Dickson exhibited work there, and Fashion Moda was known for incorporating and engaging the South Bronx community with its exhibitions.

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