'The Disciples': James Mollison's Portraits of Music Subcultures

From photographer James Mollison, whom you might remember from his poignant series on where children sleep, comes Disciples -- a visual study of musical subcultures, reminiscent of the Exactitudes project. Between 2004 and 2007, Mollison travelled across Europe and the U.S. with a mobile photography studio, which he parked in front of music concerts, taking individual portraits of fans outside the respective band's gig. He then composited the portraits into lineups of eight to ten fans, creating a single pseudo-panoramic image. Disciples gathers 62 of these fascinating images, featuring more than 500 individual portraits that capture the spirit and tribalism of contemporary music culture, from death metal to Lady Gaga.

Madonna

The Cure

Bjork

Oasis

Kiss

Dolly Parton

50 Cent

Puff Daddy

Sex Pistols

Spice Girls

Jennifer Lopez

Casualties

George Michael

Rod Stewart

Manson

Missy Elliot

Morrisey

An entertaining study of pop culture and its subcultural micro-cults, Disciples offers a curious look at one of our era's most pervasive secular religions and one of the last remaining social unifiers of our time.

Images: James Mollison, Laboite Verte; Via Quipsologies.

This post also appears on Brain Pickings.