Exhibitions
Opening reception: April 25 2008
Abby Banks: “If you lived here - you’d be home now”
An exhibition of photography from the Punk House book project.
Show Runs: April 25 - June 21, 2008
I started the Punk House project in San Pedro, California in 2004. Several of my friends had lived in a house there for years. They hosted shows in the living room, kitchen and back yard. Almost everyone in the house was in a band and a record label was run out of the house as well. Friends and visitors painted the walls, flyers had been plastered up and stencils made from photos of punk bands from the 70’s and 80’s were adorning the walls of the bathroom. The house was messy for conventional standards. A skate ramp in the back yard was frequently used, the casket next to the house collected dirt. This group of friends was happy, they made their house comfortable and it was affordable. They had time and energy to peruse their creative endeavors. I was inspired by them to try and document as many punk houses across the country as possible, so I started with theirs.
That san Pedro house is gone now, evicted because one man decided he hated them, their happiness and their freedom. He wrote letters of complaint to the city, to the punk house’s residents work places claiming they were drug addicts and called the police to every party and show. He wasn’t an angry neighbor, in fact the punk house got along very well with the whole neighborhood, he was even someone who used to come and hang around the house. The relationship turned when they had to ask him leave the house once because he started to demand to see one woman who lived there. He freaked her out and this angered him. He effectively ended more than ten years of an amazing place.
I traveled by truck with my friend Tim Findlen across the country visiting 60 plus houses in 20 states. Now, a few years later, most of the houses I photographed are gone. New ones have cropped up, and some of the houses still going are even owned by someone who lives in the house or they have a good relationship with their landlord. I feel the punk house book is a permanent document of that moment in time, while I was visiting - a permanent place for something that is constantly shifting, moving, ending and beginning again.
The book was published in 2007 with help from Thurston Moore of the band Sonic Youth. He got word of the project and we met, he then brought me to meet the people at Abrams. The book follows very close to my original manuscript. I worked very hard to complete this book- but I also feel lucky and grateful that Thurston understood my project and Abrams published it.
I now live in Brattleboro, Vermont, where I am part of the art collective the Tinderbox. In the building we rent, we host all-ages volunteer run shows and art studio spaces. In my studio and in my life I work on art; painting, drawing, photography, flyers, zines, making friends, making music, booking shows, all sorts of stuff. I also have big plans to work on a second photo book in the future.
Abby Banks