All fliers via Large Up Agency
Donna-Claire is the Jesus Lazardo of the literary world.
Music culture is born from being outside. Whether it’s the birth of hip-hop or underground basement punk shows, the art progresses alongside the collision of bodies with bodies. The ephemera attached to those moments and parties is a time capsule of a better era–one before the doom scroll was a condition of being.
From the late 1970s to the ’90s, if you wanted to find the best party spot in your respective city, you were out on the streets trawling for handmade flyers and posters advertising the best a music scene had to offer. In his new art book, Art of Dancehall, pioneer Walshy Fire catalogs the beauty of these DIY party flyers as they shaped the rise of dancehall from Jamaica to NYC, Tokyo, and London. The Jamaican-American DJ, curator, and Major Lazer member has spent the past 13 years spotlighting reggae and dancehall music for American audiences, and this new art book is another push to catalog the dancehall’s rich history.
Art of Dancehall preserves a dynamic music scene in amber. In an era of microwaved content and AI-generation, this book harkens back to the importance of working with wax, a microphone, and a printing press.“People will look at their old photos or grandparents’ photos, and realize they lived in a moment that is completely the opposite of the moment now,” Walshy fire says. “And these moments need to be highlighted, boosted, and put on an altar because they will never happen again.”
We spoke with Walshy Fire about his new art book, the selection process for the flyers and posters, and the importance of capturing DIY spirit in a world dominated by AI slop.
