Naomi Petersen

I met Naomi Petersen when I was in tenth grade at Simi Valley High in Simi Valley, CA. Being a “weird” kid and all, Art class was one of the only classes I had where I felt right at home. I sat at a table with Naomi, who was in 12th grade. She was one of the few punk rock types who was nice to me. She was the one who assured me I wasn’t going to get beat up if I went to see Black Flag. I was green and asking questions, taking the punk scene at face value. Hey, you got to start somewhere.

I soon realized that Naomi was someone who was making the scene, seeing all of these incredible bands, and even hanging out at SST Records; which I worshipped. Soon, I realized that she was a photographer who took a lot of great photos. A lot of which were for various SST bands. Everyone knew who she was. She was a punk rock celeb.

I only ran into her a few times after high school. She visited Raleigh NC in the later eighties. I remember her having an advanced copy of Sister by Sonic Youth, a tape that everyone in Raleigh dubbed off of her. She was friends with COC and the Richmond Virginia band Honor Role. She took pictures of both those bands and a whole bunch more. I think she was living in Washington DC.

The last time I saw her was at the end of 1989 when she was taking pictures of Honor Role’s last show at the Cats Cradle in Chapel Hill. There she was on stage a few feet away taking pictures and singing along with the band like I was. It was always cool to see her, and weird to think that both of us had moved away from Simi Valley and ended up on the east coast.

Years later I heard that she passed away but never heard how or why. Joe Carducci wrote an excellent book that was sort of about her and SST records called ENTER NAOMI. It was a great book that answered some of my questions. It was sad and surprising how things ended up for Naomi.

Naomi’s brother Chris has looked after her legacy and in the future there will be some of her work published in what I imagine is a cool book. I’m excited about this, as her stuff was really good and she should get her due.

Chris liked this take I had of his sister from a photograph that he had made into a graphic. After talking it over with both Chris and Charles Cardello at Bifocal Media, it was soon decided that this could make a nice little shirt and a tribute to Naomi. I hope you like it. I hope some other people will sort of discover her photographs when the book comes out. Naomi was a real pioneer. RIP. -Brian Walsby

LIMITED TO 300. Printed on American Apparel heavy cotton Tees. Ladies’ sizes printed on BellaCanvas Slim fit ladies cut apparel. Ladies’ sizes run very small so check the size chart on those.