As a pioneering artist in a male-dominated scene, Sandra Fabara — known globally as Lady Pink — has long been a trailblazer in underground art. Her new show, Miss Subway NYC, reflects on that legacy while boldly looking toward the future.
In 1979, at just 15, Sandra Fabara’s boyfriend was arrested for graffiti and sent back to Puerto Rico. In a rebellious act of devotion, she began tagging his name across her Queens school.
“For two years we were pretty tight,” she recalls. “So I started tagging his name all over the school — I learned how to do graffiti that way.”
That same year, she enrolled at Manhattan’s High School of Art & Design, suddenly surrounded by a creative, fearless community of visual artists. Some of her classmates were already painting subway trains and invited her to join.
“I met the kids who knew how to get into the trains,” she says. “That was the goal — to get up onto subway trains. It was terrifying, exciting, thrilling, stressful, empowering, and liberating. It was everything at once — being a rebel and going on an adventure. But there was also a real culture, with hierarchy and social status.”
In the early ’80s, her signature tag — PINK — became an iconic presence across the city. Her vibrant, detailed style stood out, earning her a spot at just 17 in the historic 1981 New York/New Wave exhibition at MoMA PS1, alongside the likes of Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and William S. Burroughs.
Though the graffiti world was overwhelmingly male, Lady Pink carved out her place.
“There was a whole decade of women through the ’70s who wrote graffiti — dozens of women,” she says. “But they had all grown up and moved on by the time I started. So I was the only female at that time, and there were maybe 10,000 graffiti guys across the city.”
The sexism was real — but so was her determination.
“There was a lot of sexism, but also acceptance,” she explains. “The feminist movement of the ’70s had impacted boys too — they felt the need to include us. It was still a boys’ club, though. I had to force my way in.”
Now, decades later, Lady Pink brings Miss Subway NYC to east London’s D’Stassi Gallery. Anchored by a full-scale subway train carriage installation, the show is both a tribute to her early days and a showcase of her artistic evolution.
Surrealist cityscapes constructed from train carriages sit alongside rawer, socially conscious works — including a haunting painting of a person experiencing homelessness on a subway bench. These themes — of urban struggle, resilience, and transformation — have long run through her murals and canvases.
Lady Pink remains, as ever, a voice of rebellion and reinvention.
SEE THE FULL ARTICLE - HERE
As a pioneering artist in a male-dominated scene, Sandra Fabara — known globally as Lady Pink — has long been a trailblazer in underground art. Her new show, Miss Subway NYC, reflects on that legacy while boldly looking toward the future.
In 1979, at just 15, Sandra Fabara’s boyfriend was arrested for graffiti and sent back to Puerto Rico. In a rebellious act of devotion, she began tagging his name across her Queens school.
“For two years we were pretty tight,” she recalls. “So I started tagging his name all over the school — I learned how to do graffiti that way.”
That same year, she enrolled at Manhattan’s High School of Art & Design, suddenly surrounded by a creative, fearless community of visual artists. Some of her classmates were already painting subway trains and invited her to join.
“I met the kids who knew how to get into the trains,” she says. “That was the goal — to get up onto subway trains. It was terrifying, exciting, thrilling, stressful, empowering, and liberating. It was everything at once — being a rebel and going on an adventure. But there was also a real culture, with hierarchy and social status.”
In the early ’80s, her signature tag — PINK — became an iconic presence across the city. Her vibrant, detailed style stood out, earning her a spot at just 17 in the historic 1981 New York/New Wave exhibition at MoMA PS1, alongside the likes of Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and William S. Burroughs.
Though the graffiti world was overwhelmingly male, Lady Pink carved out her place.
“There was a whole decade of women through the ’70s who wrote graffiti — dozens of women,” she says. “But they had all grown up and moved on by the time I started. So I was the only female at that time, and there were maybe 10,000 graffiti guys across the city.”
The sexism was real — but so was her determination.
“There was a lot of sexism, but also acceptance,” she explains. “The feminist movement of the ’70s had impacted boys too — they felt the need to include us. It was still a boys’ club, though. I had to force my way in.”
Now, decades later, Lady Pink brings Miss Subway NYC to east London’s D’Stassi Gallery. Anchored by a full-scale subway train carriage installation, the show is both a tribute to her early days and a showcase of her artistic evolution.
Surrealist cityscapes constructed from train carriages sit alongside rawer, socially conscious works — including a haunting painting of a person experiencing homelessness on a subway bench. These themes — of urban struggle, resilience, and transformation — have long run through her murals and canvases.
Lady Pink remains, as ever, a voice of rebellion and reinvention.
SEE THE FULL ARTICLE - HERE