The works of American artist Pope.L span various mediums, though he is best known for his performance “crawls” through the streets of New York City. His first crawl was across 42nd Street in 1978, inspired by the growing number of unhoused people sleeping on the street. Since then, Pope.L has traversed much of NYC on his hands, knees, and elbows, using his body to highlight inequality in society and question our culture’s obsession with success. Dropping this week at Supreme (alongside the SB Blazer Mids) is a new collection that features photography from Pope.L’s most notable crawls.
Between 2001 and 2009, Pope.L crawled 22 miles up Broadway, from the tip of Manhattan to his mother’s home in the Bronx. This performance was titled The Great White Way. In previous crawls, Pope.L wore business suits as a symbol of success, but for this crawl, he wore a Superman costume with a matching Superman skateboard on his back. Photos from this crawl appear on a graphic tee, as well as two skate decks.
The Supreme x Pope.L collection drops this Thursday, September 8th at Supreme locations and online on the Supreme website. Check out the offering below.
