Nick Cave and Rowland S. Howard (of The Birthday Party), 1983 by Bleddyn Butcher. A black and white photograph of the Australian gothic post-punk band The Birthday Party featuring two figures, Nick Cave and Roland S. Howard, mid-performance.
The print is 26cm high and 40cm wide, luscious and grainy.
Cave and Howard stand with their backs toward the camera, adjacent to one another. Cave on the left and Howard on the right. A stark beam of light travels from the top left corner of the frame towards the centre bottom silhouetting Nick Cave and catching across and illuminating the edge of Howard’s body.
Nick Cave’s tall messy Mohawk arches over his head, his prominent nose is curved and his lips are full. The rest of his silhouette is engulfed in a bulky jacket cinched at the waist, flaring out like a short, triangular skirt. His arm is bent at the elbow, Cave’s thumb rests over the head of the microphone, poised as if he might raise it to his lips and start singing at any moment. A cable travels from the base of the microphone down and out of the frame.
The two men are angled towards one another.
Howard has a slim build and thin angular features. His mop of hair is artfully ruffled, styled short above his ears. Howard’s nose, the left arm of his high collared black shirt and the neck of his guitar are picked up by the light. His head angles towards his guitar, cigarette in mouth, emitting short, pale wisps of smoke, punctuating the dark background.
Audio description written by Emma McManus and voiced by Emma Bedford