DONDI

 Donald Joseph White, more commonly known as "Dondi," was born on April 7, 1961, in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. He was the youngest of five children, and his parents were of African American and Italian American descent. Dondi attended a Catholic school during his sophomore years. However, in 1975, the East New York region became unstable, with social conflicts and racial tensions such as the rise of gangs. In an interview with Zephyr, Dondi stated that he had joined several gangs in the 1970s to avoid being attacked.

Dondi's interest in graffiti began to grow in the mid-1970s, and he tagged using "NACO" and "DONDI," gradually refining his style from simple tagging to more elaborate pieces. He officially adopted the name "Dondi" in 1979 when he painted a giant piece on the roof of his house. Dondi became a member of the TOP crew (The Odd Partners) in 1977 and formed his own crew, named CIA (Crazy Inside Artists), in 1978, which included other prominent artists such as his good friend DURO. For the next 20 years, Dondi became recognized as the stylistic standard, influencing generations of graffiti writers.

Dondi is known for pioneering many of the styles and techniques still used by modern graffiti artists. He focused on creating readable letters with intricate fills and characters, and his most famous work was Children of the Grave Parts 1, 2, and 3, three whole cars on the New York City Subway from 1978 through 1980. He was the first graffiti artist to have a one-man show in the Netherlands and Germany, and his work is collected by European museums. Dondi brought graffiti art from the streets to art galleries and museums of the United States, Europe, and Japan, working with other artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lee Quinones, Keith Haring, and Fab 5 Freddy.

Dondi died of AIDS on October 2, 1998, leaving behind hundreds of paintings and drawings. He had no children, but his family, including his brother Michael White and his son Mike White, continue to move his legacy forward. Tributes to Dondi have been painted by other graffiti artists, including Zephyr, IZ the Wiz, Doc, and Keo. Dondi was featured on a Converse shoe as part of the Product Red project in 2007, and a capsule clothing line by Kool Sugar Apparel was made in 2016, with parts of the proceeds going to an AIDS charity. In 2019, the Dondi White Foundation partnered with Virgil Abloh for his Off-White clothing line. In 2018, a 1984 Dondi painting titled Solid Formation sold for US$240,000 in an Artnet auction.