Since the release of his 2002 debut Oh Me Oh My …, musician
Devendra Banhart has gone from a relatively obscure artist to gracing
the cover of Rolling Stone magazine (well, in Japan anyway) and
performing concerts and festivals all over the world. During that time,
photographer Lauren Dukoff has been there to document his ascent, along
with the growth of what has come to be known as the “freak folk”
movement. Her shots of Banhart have graced the pages of glossy music
magazines all around the world, but it is her behind-the-scenes
photographs that will be the subject of her upcoming show
Family.
Opening February 20 as part of this year’s Noise Pop festival art
show series, Family includes candid photos of Dukoff’s longtime
friend Banhart and his cohorts, including members of Bat for Lashes and
Feathers, and artists Bert Jansch and Vashti Bunyan. The show will also
include some of Banhart’s artwork, as well as that of musicians Matteah
Baim, Jon Beasley, and Adam Tullie. “I decided to have artwork from
some of the musicians displayed along with my photos because I realized
that they’re not only musicians but many of them are also fine
artists,” Dukoff said.
This is particularly fitting as Noise Pop’s art show series, which
includes two other shows, is intended to explore the relationship
between music and visual art. “We have this mission to explore the
convergence of music and art,” Noise Pop events director Stacy Horne
said. “We felt that because Lauren’s photographs are mostly of artists
who have played Noise Pop in the past, there was a common thread to the
culture we are representing.”
Dukoff has known Banhart since she was thirteen years old and has
continued to document his career throughout that time, becoming a part
of his inner circle of artist and musician friends hailing from across
the globe. “We have a brother-sister relationship,” Dukoff said. “I
took some of my very first photographs of him.” With his increasing
fame, however, Dukoff’s photographs began to be in higher demand among
music magazines, helping her launch her career in photography.
“That we get to work together is a blessing,” Dukoff said. “In the
beginning he was the only recognizable person I had taken pictures of,
and the first time I got published in Rolling Stone was a
picture of him I took during the Smokey Rolls Down Thunder
Canyon sessions.”
Since then Dukoff has had a wide range of photographs published in a
variety of magazines, including foreign editions of Rolling
Stone as well as Spin and Elle magazines here in the
US. But she says that she has always enjoyed photographing her friends
the most.
The collection of photographs — including many candid shots of
Banhart and friends lounging backstage, taking sound checks, or just
hanging out in decadent costume — is a testament to friendship.
Truly these people are family, and Dukoff is one of them. Her
photographs show no sense of embarrassment or ill at ease. They simply
portray a bunch of good friends relaxing and enjoying each other’s
company. Dukoff is not so much a fly on the wall as a participant in
the action, although she doesn’t appear in any of the shots in the
show. The subjects are aware that she is there whether they are
purposefully posing for a portrait or just allowing Dukoff to do her
thing while they do theirs.
“I’m just looking for an honest moment,” Dukoff said. And in
Family, she has captured that moment time and again.
