The photos in this book were taken by Ports Bishop in 2004 & 2005 at two separate outdoor festivals. The first in Connecticut named Future Friends and the second in Ontario, Canada called Earthunder. Both events were over the course of a weekend. People camped, cooked, and ate on site, bands played through out the day and night, and performances were given.
This book is not meant as a complete documentary of the aforementioned events nor is it meant to point out players in a particular scene. It is an offering to the public of the possibilities of an idyllic communal world of creative individuals. It can exist if you want it.
Like members of different tribes of a nation without borders, people gathered from all over the North East, Canada, and I heard someone emptied their bank account to fly from the West Coast. They were less like music festivals and more like family reunions. These are people who may be separated by distance but share a commitment to living their music and art, cooperation, collaboration, and sharing. They are inclusive not exclusive. They are political in the way they live their daily lives, not plugging in to the mainstream, building their own mini utopias, rather than being political by the way you vote or by the way you shout out slogans. They concentrate on making and doing. Making things you don't believe exist but wish they did. Making things you may be scared of. Making sounds that sound somewhere in the Bermuda triangle of human, animal, and machine. Doing plays. Doing puppet shows. Giving people places to crash. Feeding them. Drawing, recording, sewing, printing, singing, dancing, building, soldering, gluing... Everyone seems to eagerly await each others' fruits of their labor and thus creates a continual chain of inspiration.
Within these photos you will see individuals. People who out of their normal contexts have nature as their background. A neutral realm where there are no rules. People are just people.
The name of the first event, Future Friends, which is also the title for this catalogue and exhibition, is in the hope that anyone you see or meet could be a future friend. I hope you can look at these individuals and recognize that they and anyone else you meet have this potential and that utopia is not such a big word. It is just a reality you work for.
catalogue is available for wholesale and retail by emailing nypublishing@hpgrp.com
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Peter Glantz, Kites' gear, Brian Chippendale,
Colin Langenus, Jonah Rappino, Ottowa field,
Ottowa sky, Dana Bell