LAMAMIMET

William Coupon was born on December 3, 1952, in New York City and later lived in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. He studied at Syracuse University before moving back to New York to launch his photographic career in the late 1970s. He first gained attention documenting the New Wave and punk scene at Manhattan’s Mudd Club, creating formal backdrop portraits that blended a painterly aesthetic with documentary intent. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s he expanded his “Social Studies” series, photographing a wide range of sub‑cultures and indigenous groups—including Haitian communities, Australian Aboriginals, Alaska Natives, Sámi, Turkish Kurds, and many Latin American peoples—often against his signature mottled canvas. Coupon’s work later incorporated digital techniques, and he captured high‑profile figures such as Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton for Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” covers, as well as Yasser Arafat, George Harrison, Mick Jagger, and Miles Davis. His portraits were noted for their warm earth tones, medium‑format lighting, and a focus on personality over fashion, earning him exhibitions and inclusion in the Visual Collaborative Polaris catalog. William Coupon died of cancer on May 30, 2026, at the age of 73, leaving a legacy of intimate, cross‑cultural portraiture that sought to “photograph everyone in the world.”