BOOK SIGNING - Melissa Auf der Maur: My ’90s Rock Photographs - Gower St

As Melissa Auf der Maur toured the world, documenting life backstage, onstage and in the crowd. She instinctively turned the camera on herself as the most intimately available subject, as informed by her studies at Concordia University where her professor, Raymonde April, introduced her to the subjective self-portraits of Francesca Woodman.

By the time she joined Hole for their Live Through This world tour, she requested a roll of 35mm film backstage at every venue. Her daily practice, continually documenting herself and her surroundings, expanded through her creative uses of self-timers and cable releases to take snapshots in the middle of performances.

This dedication resulted in an extensive archive of over 10,000 photographs that go behind the scenes of rock-and-roll stardom.

Before becoming the bassist for ’90s alternative rock bands Hole and, later, the Smashing Pumpkins, Montreal-born Melissa Auf der Maur studied photography at Concordia University.