HARD ART DC 1979, a traveling exhibition and book, brings alive the birth of the Washington, DC punk scene and its lasting impact on music and culture worldwide. Featuring photographs by Lucian Perkins, these photos offer a singular, close-up view of a thriving, underground scene in obscure art co-ops and performance spaces of the nation’s capital when a soon-to-erupt punk scene took hold with the Bad Brains, Trenchmouth, Teen Idles, the Untouchables, and the Slickee Boys, among others, at the forefront. Perkins, later a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist for The Washington Post, was then a 26-year-old intern who photographed four shows over this pivotal five-month period. Alec MacKaye, then 14, attended most of the shows and appears in Perkins’ photographs. His narrative and Perkins’ photographs in HARD ART DC 1979 offer an intimate exploration of ‘the time before the time’ that punk rock found firm footing in the U.S. The exhibition is curated by Lely Constantinople and Jayme McLellan.

July 26th – Artist Talk with Lucian Perkins, Lely Constantinople & Alec MacKaye @ 6pm

July 27th – Punk the Capital; Building a Sound Movement – screening & Q&A with Alec MacKaye & director James June Schneider @ 3pm – more info + tickets

July 28th – Punk the Capital; Building a Sound Movement – screening & Q&A with director James June Schneider @ 3pm – more info + tickets