When photographer Brian Aris first met Debbie Harry in 1977 he didn’t know that much about her and scribbled down the phrase “punk princess” in his diary after the shoot. He could never have predicted that he had just met one of music’s next big icons whose career with Blondie would explode over the next few years– nor did he realize that as her star rose he too would continue to photograph her and her band for decades to come.
Brian’s photographs of the striking singer helped redefine the idea of the female superstar. Figures like Debbie Harry become a kind of redux of their real selves as they are burdened with other people’s projected hopes and expectations, but Brian’s enduring friendship with her creates a set of images which help re-fix the person behind the personality.
