Sep 30, 2011 10:00 AM

Gallery: Henry Rollins Braves Conflict Zones in New Photo Book

01
dhaka-needle-cutters
Punk rock luminary Henry Rollins has been many things in his life: musician, actor, spoken word artist. With his latest effort he puts yet another identifier on his resume: conflict zone photographer. In his new book *Occupants*, [Rollins](http://henryrollins.com/) collected years of pictures he took while traveling in places as far-fetched as Cambodia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Iraq. It's an impressive collection built entirely out of Rollins' desire to expose readers to corners of the world they may otherwise never see. "To be in a place that is still digging themselves out of a war so many years later and realize that it’s the same planet as the one you live on, that all this destruction was created by your species, it could perhaps cause one to do some deep thinking about things," Rollins said via email to Wired.com. "Relatively speaking, Americans get off pretty lightly when it comes to global beatings. I am glad about this, but don’t want to live my life unaware of what is happening in other places. I don’t think anything good comes from that kind of ignorance." Rollins rose to prominence after he joined the punk band [Black Flag](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Flag_(band)) in 1981. Since then he's formed his own Rollins Band, played dozens of shows per year for the last 30-plus years, and even gotten into acting (he played a creepy-as-hell [white supremacist in *Sons of Anarchy*](http://pitchfork.com/news/36442-henry-rollins-plays-rich-white-supremacist-villain/)). So why add "photographer" to his curriculum vitae? Rollins, who got his first camera as a teenager, said he wanted to see if he could translate what he was seeing as a world traveler into images. He also saw the opportunity to do something different. "Since I have no boss, hope, or career path, I just follow my interests, and the prospect of doing this seemed like it would be a good challenge that would make me have to push myself," Rollins said. Get a taste of the rocker's thoughts on some of his images in the gallery above. [*Occupants*](http://www.amazon.com/Occupants-Henry-Rollins/dp/1569768153/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317169516&sr=8-1) hits stores Saturday. __Above:__ Karail Needle Cutters in Dhaka, Bangladesh (2009) ------------------------------------------------- __Rollins:__ "I was in the Karail slum and saw this group of men cutting the needles off syringes. I asked them if they were being very careful, the potential for spread of disease being very real. The man on the right spoke English and told me they were being careful. He then proceeded to take a syringe and pretend to stab his friend with it. I don’t know what they were going to do with all the syringes. If you look carefully, the needles are all over the ground."
02
nola-ninth-ward
Empty Space in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana (2008) -------------------------------------------------------------- __Rollins:__ "It made me sad to see that vacancy where a house had been. I have no idea what happened to the people who used to live there."

03
indonesia-black-flag-t-shirt
Woman Street Vendor in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2009) --------------------------------------------------- __Rollins:__ "I saw this woman walking towards me and noticed her t-shirt. At that moment, two teens on a motorbike pulled over, having recognized me, and asked me what I was doing in town. I asked them if they would explain the t-shirt to the woman and how strange it was for the two of us to be passing in the street. After she was told, she just gave me a blank smile and kept walking."
04
timbuktu-camel
Camel Near Timbuktu, Mali (2010) -------------------------------- __Rollins:__ "I would visit this camel every evening. There was something about the texture of the bones and skin, the placement of the skeleton, it was all very perfect to me and I took several photos. I have come to have a great respect and awe of the Sahara Desert and all creatures that live in it. It might be the most brutal environment I have ever been to. Hot enough to drop you by noon and cold enough to freeze you at night. When I was there, I kept thinking of what the writer Ryszard Kapuściński once said about a good part of the earth’s surface wanting mankind dead. If you think about all the places that people inhabit and what has to be done to sustain life, he has a great point."

05
bangkok-crawling-man
Crawling Man in Bangkok, Thailand (2008) ---------------------------------------- __Rollins:__ "I sat out in the rain for a long time, watching this man drag himself up and down the street. What captivated me was the look on his face. He seemed to be content. I tried to get his expression as clearly as I could."

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