Christopher Makos - White Trash - 1977

Copy in very good condition.

White Trash is a seminal 1977 photography book by American photographer Christopher Makos. It is widely celebrated as a definitive visual diary that chronicled the raw explosion of the New York City punk rock scene and the underground counterculture of the 1970s.

The volume is interspersed with candid, unfiltered portraits of generation-defining figures, including Andy Warhol (who was a close friend and collaborator of Makos), David Bowie, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Richard Hell, Grace Jones, Mick Jagger, Divine, and Man Ray (under whom Makos apprenticed).

Makos famously described his raw approach by stating that “the camera is a knife. And photography is an act of violence,”. His images are characterized by an edgy, confrontational graphic nature that lacks pretense, capturing a sordid yet beautiful landscape inhabited by an "ambisexual generation". The book perfectly captures the energy, chaos, and vitality of an unapologetic era before the commercialization of punk.

Originally published by Stonehill Publishing Company as a cheap, disposable paperback—mimicking the throwaway ethos of the title itself—the original 1977 edition went on to become a rare cult classic.

As famously noted by Blondie's Debbie Harry, Makos was the first photographer to distinctively record the convergence of the "uptown" and "downtown" worlds of Manhattan. The book seamlessly blends the gritty, D.I.Y. street culture of punk with the high-society art, fashion, and glamour circles of the era.

With the publication of this seminal 1977 book, White Trash, Christopher Makos burst on to the photography scene and made a name for himself as the first photographer to record the convergence of the "uptown" and "downtown" worlds, as Debbie Harry fondly remembers. This raw, beautiful volume chronicled the punk scene as it came of age on the street of New York. Interspersed in the mix are portraits of boldface names, including Andy Warhol, Man Ray, Tennessee Williams, Halston, John Paul Getty III, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Grace Jones, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, Tom Verlaine, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Zandra Rhodes, Divine, Lance Loud, and Marilyn Chambers, among others. Over the years, the book became a cult classic.



About the photographer:
Christopher Makos is a world-renowned photographer. He is best known for his work in portraiture and has exhibited at galleries and museums worldwide. He was an apprentice with photographer Man Ray in Paris and collaborated with Andy Warhol. Some of his previous books include Exhibitionism, a collaboration on studies of the male nude with Calvin Klein; Equipose, unique portraiture of horses (Glitterati, 2005); and Warhol In Context, which visually chronicles his unique access to this major artist during the '70s, '80s, and '90s.