MatthewFrancis
P1170273
You might or might not be aware that Riot Fest went on in Chicago this weekend. It’s a massive festival of music, featuring many bands and performers who are known to be quite noisy indeed.
Now, some would say the music is Punk, and some would say it’s Punk Rock. Some folks with distinguished tastes would say it’s Punk and Rock, and maybe some other genres entirely, or maybe they’d spend a little time grousing about how certain folks don’t seem to know what Punk and Rock even mean, and how could one possibly confuse the two? For crying out loud!
But let’s not get sidetracked by semantics. Let the scholars handle that. There’s bigger stuff at stake.
The spirit of punk, as I see it from here, is about being who you are, your whole self, without fear. That’s it. Never mind what’s expected, what’s proper, what’s polite; you’ve got to reach down deep inside and find the stuff that pulses and throbs and roars. If it’s ugly and raw, who cares? We all have dark and bright inside us — we’re a mess of contradictions, we happy few, we band of brothers (and sisters). We’re on this rock together. That’s just the way it is.
Oh, and you don’t need some grubby city street or a handy mosh pit to feel a little bit punk, either, so don’t hide behind that excuse. You can hold your own little Riot Fest anywhere, even in the gentle, golden afternoon light of the countryside, as our subject appears to.
In all fairness, I admit I have no idea what he’s thinking about in this charming portrait. For all I know, this guy might not even be familiar with Punk yet, and might never come to identify with it. But that’s okay. Either way, this photo makes me grin, because it’s full of in-yer-face spirit. We all need a dose of that now and again.
To this young man, and to you, I say this:
You’re awesome, kid. Just as you are.
Never let go.
Never surrender.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, Jenn Wilson and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
