Charles Peterson's Nirvana photo book out today – Kurt's birthday!

Photographer Charles Peterson documented Nirvana from the moment they hit Seattle so his new book promises to be epic.

Writes Charles Peterson...

I’ve known Michelle Dunn Marsh, the co-founder of Minor Matters, in the Seattle art photo world for many years, and she was always a great friend and champion of my work. I knew that she could help edit a book that would be beautiful, dynamic and most of all artistic. I also love the idea of keeping things local and in the family (Jeff Kleinsmith of Sub Pop fame is doing the design). Michelle is committed to releasing books by a diverse array of artists, and if I can help in that vs letting Random Bucks f*ck up my book, I’m all for it.

The book: Let’s just say it’s been a process to get this far, with some major psychological hurdles to overcome in order to figure out how to say, in the words of Kurt, something that hasn’t been said before, and not just merely serve the servants, both real and imagined. 

So I went to the meat of the material, and nevermind the posed shit that I was never really that good at, I cranked up the music. It was the beautiful chaos, anger, joy and sheer relentlessness of the band’s music and performance that inspired me to choose the photos and order them in the way I did (with a heap of tough love and intellect from Michelle’s studied and impartial eye). So it’s what I consider a tight, practiced book, visceral, exciting and to the point. 

There are very few posed or candid photos of the band in the book. We tried, but it veered into becoming yet another 'band book' of which there are plenty already. Rather, it's a relentless, 'dive' into experiencing the music of Nirvana via my visionary take on live performance photography. It certainly contains all of the greatest hits and many new ones uncovered from the archives, sequenced in a way that makes the music come alive again. I think it is poised to be unique in straddling art and music culture. 

 

 

Charles Peterson's Nirvana will be published by Minor Matters on February 20th.

Sub Pop (2130 7th Ave, Seattle) is hosting a Charles Peterson book signing with slide show and Q&A on Feb. 20 from 6pm to 8pm.