22 May 2025

Reflecting on Basquiat:
Personal stories from Tamra Davis & Lysa Cooper
Moderated by Shelby Meade

Join us for a conversation with Tamra Davis and Lysa Cooper as they share personal stories of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Tracing back to the early days of downtown New York, Tamra Davis and Lysa Cooper will reflect on their experiences with Basquiat during some of the most formative moments of his life. They’ll speak about the club and music scenes, underground art and film, the barter economy, making and watching movies, and what it meant to be an artist then—compared to now.

Davis will also speak about making The Radiant Child, her influential documentary that introduced Basquiat to new audiences and framed his legacy for a new generation. Cooper will reflect on their close friendship and shared time in New York’s creative underground.

Moderated by Shelby Meade, the talk offers a rare chance to hear from two friends who knew Basquiat personally and lived through the cultural ferment that shaped his world.

Speaker Profiles

Tamra Davis

Tamra Davis is a director whose work across mediums has helped shape pop culture over the past four decades. She began directing music videos in the 1980s, working with artists like N.W.A, Sonic Youth, and Bette Midler, before making her feature debut in 1992 with Guncrazy, which earned a place on Vincent Canby’s Top Ten list and Drew Barrymore a Golden Globe nomination. Davis has directed a total of nine feature films including Billy Madison, CB4, Half Baked, and Crossroads, written by Shonda Rhimes and starring Britney Spears and Zoe Saldaña. Her 2010 documentary Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child premiered at Sundance and was released by PBS, remaining a definitive film on the artist. Recent projects include 13: The Musical for Netflix and Larger Than Life, a 2024 documentary on boy bands for Paramount+. Davis has also worked on a wide range of television shows, from directing episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, Empire, and P-Valley, to filming a pilot in 2021 that was made into the CBS series Good Sam, to launching High School Musical: The Series for Disney+. Her work continues to explore the intersection of art, music, and storytelling.

Lysa Cooper

Lysa Cooper is a stylist, creative director, and cultural connector whose long-standing influence spans fashion, music, and nightlife. Starting out at Details magazine while working the doors of New York’s most iconic clubs, Cooper became known for building spaces and communities that shaped the city’s creative scene. As part of the original team behind Indochine and later the founder of iconic venues like Area and Juicy, Cooper built spaces that defined a generation of downtown culture. A chance encounter with photographer Ellen Von Unwerth sparked her transition into styling, leading to collaborations with Mary J. Blige, Mos Def, Kanye West, and Rihanna — shaping some of music’s most defining visual moments. Her aesthetic has also extended to film and video, working with directors such as Hype Williams and Mark Romanek. A muse to artists like Keith Haring, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Alex Katz, Cooper moves seamlessly between disciplines, continuing to influence how style, art, and music intersect.

Shelby Meade (Moderator)

Shelby Meade is a creative strategist and connector with over two decades of experience shaping global brands, artists, and cultural projects. Beginning her career in New York’s music scene, she helped launch legendary acts before expanding into fashion, hospitality, and environmental initiatives. Through her consultancy, Hello-Shelby, Meade continues to build authentic creative strategies and strategic partnerships across industries worldwide.