This Land

It’s been an assiduous two years for Tulsa native Johnny Polygon. After making a name for himself in the local rap scene, Johnny moved to Los Angeles to take the next leap in his career. In 2008, he found himself under the radar of James D’Agostino, better known as DJ…

When I first encountered Harold Dorsey, he wasn’t shining shoes at all. He was sitting high up in the chair usually reserved for his clients, reading a book on photography.

“You’d be surprised how much I’ve learned during my breaks over the years,” he chuckled with his weathered voice. Dorsey,…

It’s a Saturday evening at a Brookside coffee house. The atmosphere is pretty relaxed. I’m chatting with an old friend as a musical ensemble sets up in the corner to play. A woman in her 80′s sits down in the corner and neatly arranges some sheet music while the younger…

In this installment of True Tulsa, Michael Cooper presents a black and white portrait of the beloved Rabbi Marc Fitzerman, who leads the Congregation B’nai Emunah.

New Orleans-born, South Carolina-raised Grace Grothaus moved to Tulsa only four years ago, but her influence in the artistic community is already palpable. After earning her degree at the Kansas City Art Institute while simultaneously running a gallery there, Grothaus accepted a position at Philbrook–though she’d also been accepted at…

The Free Tulsa 2011 music festival was a hopping success! Photographer Michael Cooper offers up these impromptu images taken at his studio where fans and musicians dropped in.

Andrew Bones is a percussionist for several Tulsa-based bands, including The Panda Resistance and Lohawk.

Eccentric street musician David Horne serenades his beloved companion, Althea.

George Matson is a particularly beloved figure in the Southern Hills community, where he spent fifty five years with the nick name “Golf Shop George.” Matson, originally from Northern Ireland, still carries his distinctive Irish brogue at eighty four. He immigrated to America based on a small taste of the…

Locked away in a bedroom-turned-workshop is T-Town fashionista Valentin Esparza, whose designs have taken the city by storm over the past two years. Esparza, self-taught through meticulous research and experimentation, launched a series of Golden Driller-themed t-shirts and his career in 2009. His Driller design would be seen on various…