June 30, 2008
Dishes stay dirty
Author Abby Banks traveled to 25 cities and photographed more than 50 houses in order to compile Punk House: Interiors in Anarchy, a coffee table-sized book featuring pictures of anarchy warehouses, artists' studios, hobo squats, treehouses, communes and basement bike shops as well as their denizens. During her travels, Banks took over 6,000 photos and winnowed her haul down to the 300 images that appear in Punk House. Walls plastered with fliers, posters, graffiti. Cigarette butts crushed into carpeting. Rooms crammed with half-finished art projects, salvaged furniture, stacks of books and magazines, piles of records and tangles of cords and music equipment. Banks captures every squalid detail. I leafed through Punk House at Subterranean, but put it back on the shelf after noticing its un-punk $30 price tag.