European Sociology, Subculture

Angelo Sindaco: Skinstreet

Name: Angelo Sindaco: Skinstreet
Author: David Gross
ISBN: 9788888493350

by David Gross (Foreword by), Federico Chiara

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Overview

After the success of Amplified Youth, an amazing report on the indie scene and the new rock 'n roll fever, Angelo Sindaco continues to dig into the faults of modernity. Pressurized energy, about to explode: he is a spy of the conflict that started at the borders and has spread to the centre. Skinstreet is the last book by the photographer, with images shot around Europe and the United States. Sindaco is mapping the mutant geography of the street scene, he is an authentic cultural Jedi like Drago. The challenge, this time, is in the controversial, usually demonized, world of the shaved heads. A former skinhead himself, Angelo Sindaco revisits his past with his camera,
immortalizing one of the most "esoteric" tribes on the globe. According to the author it is "a world apart" and "hard to approach". Equally radical, is the code required to adapt and blend in. Starting with the intrinsic rite of shaving to boots, leather jackets and heavy tattoos. This is the look, the complete dress-code of the urban warrior. It has been like this since the 60s, true to its white working class roots. Criticised by the orthodox, the skinheads damned charm has an irresistible appeal to the gay community. So, from the outside, the phenomenon ends under the lights of the paparazzi: on the catwalks and the fashion magazines. However, the "gonzos" of the counter-culture don't surrender to the temptations of show business. Instead, they continue to protectively foster their identity, avoiding all sorts of contaminations. Hard and pure until the end. Through the eye of Angelo Sindaco, it is possible to discover them in their extreme and unsettling habitat. An alien dimension inhabited by secular "Krishna's", devoted to resistance. The volume includes a collection of essays by David Gross (N.Y. Times, Newsday, Farrar Straus Giroux) and Federico Chiara (Vogue Italia).

Synopsis

Text by Federico Chiara, Nico Tullio. Foreword by David Gross.

About the Author, David Gross

Angelo Sindaco drew cartoons for the seminal art and punk magazine Frigidaire in the early 1990s, and has long since established himself as a photographer in Vice and Rodeo among others. That work led him to found, in 2000, EVA (Experimental Visual Arts), which puts artists and innovative businesses together though conferences and festivals.