“Print is dead,” so they say. This may be true for many magazines. To illustrate, the legendary “Surfing” magazine was ultimately euthanised a short while back, despite months of life-extending measures. Rest in peace. Our hearts bleed with theirs.
But humans will be humans, always defiant of death, trying to escape it. That is what the guys at BINSURFEN are doing as well. With PULK fully charging the defibrillator, forcefully zapping away at the vegetating organism called print.
And suddenly there it is again: the heartbeat, that carries life into the smallest cellulose cells. PULK is teeming with life. 224 pages of it. Authentic, steering away from clichés. Away from paradisiacal beaches usually associated with surfing.
On a trip, that is certainly not on the bucket list of many other mortals, the guys even manage to breathe life into a seemingly lifeless, deserted region like the Baltic Sea.
Beautiful sunsets? Sexy bikini girls? Get Lost! None of all those stereotypes used by modern-day advertisement – this is where the underground reigns supreme.
Feel the chill of countries such as Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. All-enveloping bleakness. Crumbling brickwork instead of palm trees. Bonnets duct-taped shut instead of elegant beach cruisers. Motor oil instead of coconut oil.
Despite all this, the protagonists with names such as Ivan, Kirill or Leonid warm readers’ hearts. How they give it their all every day just to enjoy themselves in the water. Regardless of circumstance. Regardless of people´s opinion. Everyday surfing in these regions: A unique experiment.
That is PULK. The tome as a collage.
Where experience reports meet strips of scanned 35mm negatives. Illustration meets photography – not one square millimetre of paper left unused by indie spirit. Handicraft radiates from each page. The punk, that also flares up in the feature by photographer Donato Di Camillo. How he unites the sociological perspective of Martin Parr with the jarring colours of David La Chappelle into one unit.
That´s heaps of fun and proves: Life really takes place in those corners where you least expect it.
Long live PULK.
