He told me that there were more pictures like these, stored in crates at his mother’s house.
I was astonished to see punk icons Sid Vicious, Andy Warhol, Divine, The Clash and The Misfits peering out of these never-before-published photos. Once, he showed me a collection of photos he’d taken of the late-70s punk scene in New York. We met while working for a city listings magazine where Rikki eked out a living, barely able to afford food on his meager staff photographer salary. The year was 2003, and Rikki had recently returned to America after living in Bangkok for over a decade. It was the first day of Rikki’s gay porn career. As Rikki snapped pictures, the vegetable shot across the room with a loud POP. The model was dressed in leather bondage gear with an eggplant stuffed up his butt. And with it, some of the city’s liberal identity.
