original article by: Rian Dundon - Photography editor at Timeline.com https://timeline.com/edm-rave-culture-history-ae647e587a13#.z3gss12js All photos © Aaron Lee Fineman, 1994–1998. The first time Aaron Lee Fineman went to a rave, he knew he’d be returning with a camera. It was the summer of 1994 and the 18-year-old Georgia native had recently moved to New York City to start taking classes in photography. Over the years that followed he would repeatedly return to the scene, snapping black-and-white pics of a culture which for many young people represented pure freedom. “Nobody cared what you looked like or wore, people accepted you for who you were. That was part of the ‘respect’ of P.L.U.R.” The acronym (short for ‘Peace, Love, Unity, Respect’) was a guiding philosophy for ravers at the time—a credo which reflected their shared ideals of musical and cultural camaraderie. At the parties he photographed in New York, Baltimore, and back home in Marietta, Fineman was often the only person with a camera. Armed with a few rolls of film stuffed in his pockets—and the informal blessings of the DJs and promoters whom he befriended—he was allowed to shoot freely, connecting intimately with subjects in a scene of which he was also an earnest participant. He didn’t take drugs, but like many of his generation of ravers he had a genuine affection for the music and its transcendent potential. Fineman kept shooting until the late ’90s when he started to see a shift in the rave scene. “The climate of the culture was changing, it wasn’t the same spirit as when I started. There started to be more emphasis on the drugs.” The photojournalist now laments that people have become much more sensitive about having cameras around. But in the pictures he made in those pre-selfie years of image indifference, we can feel the intensity—and integrity—of an underground movement with its own unique identity. So kick back, throw on some Soul Slinger, and gyrate to these visions of a time when it didn’t matter how big your jeans were, you were loved.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives |