David Bowie: Mixing Memory & Desire
“As iconic photographer, adventurous fan and insider eye-witness, Kevin Cummins has always been where the cultural action is. Mixing Memory & Desire will make you see David Bowie in a surprising and stimulating new way.” —PAUL MORLEY
The career of celebrated photographer Kevin Cummins began on 29th June 1973 when, as a nineteen-year-old photography student, he photographed David Bowie. That image is now in the renowned photography collection of the V&A Museum and marked the beginning of Kevin Cummins’ four-decade-long visual chronicle of David Bowie’s remarkable career.
David Bowie: Mixing Memory & Desire includes some of the best portraits of Bowie ever taken, the majority of which have never been published until now. From those legendary Bowie gigs in the early 1970s, through to a poignant image taken outside his apartment in New York in 2016, Cummins has captured the many faces of Bowie and created a book that is essential for Bowie fans everywhere.
“Kevin brilliantly captures the essence of the great man in these remarkable photographs. Cummins is so adept at breaking down the barrier of the camera, you sense Bowie is completely at ease when they worked together.” —GOLDIE
Manchester-born Kevin Cummins has an international reputation as one of the world’s leading photographers and is famed for his iconic portraits of musicians including Ian Curtis, Bowie, The Smiths, Iggy Pop, Bjork, Debbie Harry, Bob Marley, Public Enemy, Patti Smith and Oasis. These photographs have appeared on magazine covers and in galleries and museums worldwide, including: Brooklyn Museum, Sydney Opera House, Pace Gallery, and other cities including New York, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Berlin, London, and Bologna. His work is included in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery, V&A Museum and Manchester City Art Gallery.
Cummins had a 20-year association with British Rock ‘bible’ NME, where he created many of the best-known images in modern music history. He was awarded an honorary doctorate (arts) by Manchester Metropolitan University in 2015. His monographs for Octopus include Joy Division: Juvenes, Morrissey: Alone and Palely Loitering, Britpop: While We Were Getting High and Telling Stories: Photographs of The Fall.
David Bowie: Mixing Memory & Desire
Photographs by Kevin Cummins, Foreword by Jeremy Deller
Cassell, November 2023
Hardcover
33 x 29 cm
RRP from £35