Description: Pulitzer prize-winning photographer Lucian Perkins captures four electrifying punk shows in Washington, DC, in 1979, with narrative by Alec MacKaye and an essay by Henry Rollins.
Brief description: LUCIAN PERKINS, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, worked as a staff photographer for the Washington Post for twenty-seven years until 2007. While at the Post, Perkins covered many of the major events of the time, including Russia since 1988, the wars in the former Yugoslavia, the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Currently, Perkins is an independent photographer and videographer concentrating on multimedia projects and video documentaries while still pursuing his love for the still image. He is also the cofounder of Facing Change: Documenting America, a collective of ten photographers who are documenting the issues facing the United States. Hard Art, DC 1979 is his latest collection.
Review Quotes: Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Perkins's images, taken during the fall and winter of 1979 and published to accompany a traveling exhibition, document a formative period in Washington, D.C.'s then-nascent punk and hardcore rock scene . . . Perkins was one of the few to bring a camera to these shows, and he produced propulsive images of the aesthetic as it was forming. Photos capturing the raw magnetism of performers like Charlie Danbury of Trenchmouth and H.R. of Bad Brains signal the power of the music. Perkins is also fascinated with the audience at these events, showcasing dingy stairwells and sweat-glazed faces. In telling shots, performers and audience blur into a frenzied mass. Musician MacKaye, of the Untouchables, gives a firsthand account of being a fourteen-year-old at these shows, crossing dangerous parts of D.C. in order to stand with strangers in derelict buildings and hear live music. Musician Rollins's brief essay on one of the bands, the Teen Idles, speaks to the intensity and commitment of those involved.-- "Publishers Weekly"