Disarming

Photographer Kyle Cassidy shoots the goths and the gun owners without malice.

by A.D. Amorosi

TRIGGER HAPPY: (L-R) David, Krystle, Noel, Kassandra and Kindra, Central Pennsylvania, 2006 - from Cassidy's Armed America. : Kyle Cassidy (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Photographer Kyle Cassidy has essayed the goth scene and its culture for nearly 20 years, making images both beautifully lurid and stunningly sensual. Most people know the West Philly snapper for his up-close-and-personal shots of luminous gothic beauties like Nicki Jaine or the Dresden Dolls. Or they know his pictures of levitating ladies from his "Everything's Up in the Air" show at Afif Gallery in 2004. Or his photographs of politicians like Bill Clinton and Arlen Specter, on permanent display at the Annenberg Public Policy Center in the National Press Building in Washington, D.C.

But nothing could prepare fans of Cassidy's luxurious aesthetic with the equally plush and potent photos that famously fill Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes. The gorgeous coffee-table book captures stylish weapon holders across the country without advocating the NRA or denouncing it. Cassidy will be showing his photos at the next Monday Night Club at the Balcony. (This one, which I have recently been enlisted to host, is a benefit to help pay for the medical bills of its usual host, Needles Jones.)

City Paper: So far, the press's take on Armed America is that yours is "the smart person's gun nut book." But you didn't make it to show that really interesting, good people could brandish weaponry sensibly.

Kyle Cassidy: I like the idea of being "a smart person's something" — whatever it is. Going into this project, I had no idea who was going to come out the other side, whether it was going to be a bunch of white supremacists and drug dealers or 90 cops and ex-Marines. It was all a surprise while I was doing it. I didn't have any expectations because I was so far out of my element. But I can tell you that what while you're looking at smart, interesting, good people, there're other people somewhere in America going, "Who are these wackos with pink hair?"

CP: So what is it with you and the goth scene?

KC: I'm fascinated by subcultures — people separated from the mainstream. Goth is a visual, costume culture. It begs to be photographed. At the same time it's so easy to fall overboard into farce — that thin line between gothtastic and silly. So there's a challenge in pulling the really beautiful elements away from the daggers and graveyards and candelabras and things like that. And I was totally in love with Yvonne DiCarlo.

CP: Has your warmth toward goths changed or waned?

KC: Now, maybe more than ever, the most beautiful images are coming out of that culture. Photographers like Evi Numan and Lithium Picnic elevated it to a whole new level. The advent of modeling agencies like Wicked Talent that cater specifically to that crowd and Web sites like Model Mayhem geared toward that end of the spectrum — it's found its place. But I thought it was time to move along. I'm paranoid of getting typecast: "Hey that's Kyle Cassidy, the alt.fashion guy, go show him your bat tattoo."

CP: You had to have been looked at like a thief in the temple shooting the book. Gun folk are notorious for being warily unwelcome about outsiders.

KC: I was like a flaming Christmas tree at a chess tournament. When I started out, nobody would talk to me. Everybody thought I was out to do a hatchet job on "gun culture." It took me months to overcome and it still never went away altogether. I still see comments from on the Internet saying things like, "Look how he included this person who doesn't like guns — that's some sort of underhanded attack." But my goal from the very beginning was to be as politically neutral as humanly possible and not let my own feelings and beliefs get into the book. I never wanted to make propaganda for one side or the other, but realized that both sides would probably use it to say, "Look. Everything I said was true!"

CP: So how can you link all of this — the goths and the gun toters, and the levitating ladies and the politicos — what brings it together?

KC: It's all part of the wild ride. I have many directions I'm torn in, so many things I want to do, so many experiences to have. I don't ever want to go to bed at night realizing that I'm no different from the person who got out of that same bed in the morning.

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)

Kyle Cassidy's Armed America exhibit with Nicki Jaine, Kenn Kweder/Jon Houlon, Franzschubert, Chris Sulit, Heather Henderson and Louis Nelson Dance performing for the benefit of Monday Night Club host Needles Jones, Mon., Sept. 3, 9:30 p.m., free with suggested donation of $5, The Balcony at the Trocadero, 1003 Arch St., 215-922-LIVE, www.thetroc.com, www.kylecassidy.com.