Remember 1994 ? Neither do we. But Joseph Cultice does, and the photographer has made a book from the photos of Björk he took that year (fans of her Icelandic band, The Sugarcubes, will remember Björk from about five years earlier). New to America, she had started promoting her first solo album, Debut, and the shoot was the first magazine cover for both of them.
The book is called Pop Is Personal, and while other recording artists are also featured — iconic images (some of them album art) of Marilyn Manson, No Doubt, Beck, Patti Smith, and Kim Gordon — for the purposes of this post, let’s just concentrate on Björk. True to the title, Cultice has shared with us a few fond memories from that day in Santa Monica almost twenty years ago. The recollections are sweet and bear repeating, because, well, Björk is so damn darling. Says Cultice...
– I rented a huge fake rock for the shoot. It didn’t show up until Björk was driving away. She waited for the rock, but the delivery truck broke down on the highway. I remember her face as she drove out and saw the rock pull in — big comic smile-frown.
– Björk ate a peach for me, and I could never look at a peach the same way again.
– The red shirt she is wearing for most of the shoot had a photo of her five-year-old son. He made it for her.
– Björk wore camel-toed shoes by Martin Margiela. She was one of the first to have a pair.
– Björk is part lioness. Well, the equivalent in Iceland. A sea lioness ?
– She has an unusually wide tongue.
– She drove herself to the shoot. She’s from Iceland, and the shoot was in L.A.
– The magazine publisher’s wife did the catering. She cooked the food herself, so she could meet Björk.
– Her accent is cuter in person. So cute that it was hard to stand up.
– Björk likes photographers with long hair, but not if they have a girlfriend.
– Björk brings her heart, soul, fearlessness, engagement, and berserk energy to the set. “Björserk” is my nickname for her, a fond description of her energy.
