Christopher Makos
- Text by Alex King
- Photography by Christopher Makos

What is punk? Over the last four decades the label has been applied so widely it’s been stretched almost to breaking point.
Christopher Makos released White Trash in 1977, right at the moment this refreshing new movement was bursting out of London and New York. The book was the first major photographic document of the NYC scene, helping reveal who was punk and what punk looked like – all while the paint was still drying on the word punk.
With White Trash Uncut, Makos has reawakened his original work and republished the book with the benefit of four decades hindsight – adding a number of significant people to the already packed roster of icons included in the original publication.
Although Makos will maintain that all he was doing was shooting the people around him, as he has done throughout his career, he clearly had an eye for spotting cultural pioneers as he later introduced Andy Warhol to the work of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Here, Christopher Makos explains how his past has become part of his present and how living in the moment allowed him to capture an era-defining subcultural artefact.
What attracts you to punk?
I have no attraction to punk, I have attraction to people and the way they live their lives. Punk was a moment defined by the moment in the 70’s, by music, fashion, culture.
Did you have any sense that the people you photographed in the 1970s would become such huge icons today?
I always live in the moment, so the idea of huge icons, doesn’t really resonant with me. I photograph people, whether they are huge stars, or a person on the street. They are all special to me.
How did it feel to revisit White Trash after so many years?
I realised that my photographs have the same importance as they did then. My style is that of democratising people, and it still holds true. It was a great pleasure to revisit the past, and to realise it has become part of my present.
Is punk still relevant today? If so, what are the most valuable things to learn from the punk of the 70s?
Good music, good fashion and interesting lifestyle is always relevant. Good style never is outdated. Good lasts forever. That is the lesson that other people need to learn, I have always known it.
White Trash Uncut by Christopher Makos is out now, published by Glitterati Incorporated.
Latest on Huck

Clubbing is good for your health, according to neuroscientists
We Become One — A new documentary explores the positive effects that dance music and shared musical experiences can have on the human brain.
Written by: Zahra Onsori

In England’s rural north, skateboarding is femme
Zine scene — A new project from visual artist Juliet Klottrup, ‘Skate Like a Lass’, spotlights the FLINTA+ collectives who are redefining what it means to be a skater.
Written by: Zahra Onsori

Donald Trump says that “everything is computer” – does he have a point?
Huck’s March dispatch — As AI creeps increasingly into our daily lives and our attention spans are lost to social media content, newsletter columnist Emma Garland unpicks the US President’s eyebrow-raising turn of phrase at a White House car show.
Written by: Emma Garland

How the ’70s radicalised the landscape of photography
The ’70s Lens — Half a century ago, visionary photographers including Nan Goldin, Joel Meyerowitz and Larry Sultan pushed the envelope of what was possible in image-making, blurring the boundaries between high and low art. A new exhibition revisits the era.
Written by: Miss Rosen

The inner-city riding club serving Newcastle’s youth
Stepney Western — Harry Lawson’s new experimental documentary sets up a Western film in the English North East, by focusing on a stables that also functions as a charity for disadvantaged young people.
Written by: Isaac Muk

The British intimacy of ‘the afters’
Not Going Home — In 1998, photographer Mischa Haller travelled to nightclubs just as their doors were shutting and dancers streamed out onto the streets, capturing the country’s partying youth in the early morning haze.
Written by: Ella Glossop