elle magazine

Waking Patti Smith - Following the high priestess of punk for 12 years gave Steven Sebring enough material for a documentary and one hell of a picture book

Coffee-table books, by definition, aren't meant to be page-turners. Except for this month's Patti Smith: Dream of Life, which isn't so much a glossy centerpiece as it is an addictive pictorial of the godmother of punk's life as a poet, activist, mother, style icon, and all-around kick-ass front woman. Author, director, and fashion photographer Steven Sebring began trailing Smith in 1996, intending to make a documentary about the singer as she wrapped up her tour with Bob Dylan. After 12 years of shooting, the film "Dream of Life" - an intimate narrative in which Smith lets the audiences meet her Chicago-based parents, her daughter, Jesse, and her son and fellow bandmate, Jackson - finally premiered at Sundance this year, winning an award for best cinematography, and will open at New York City's Film Forum on August 6. Though the book is an addendum to the movie, Sebring's stunning portraits of Smith - the singer leaning up against a black car, her tie undone and collar unbuttoned; another of her strumming away on an electric guitar onstage, her hair curtaining her face - make it feel like the main event. Photographs of her collectibles (including a homemade yellow dress she says was "my favorite when I was a little girl") laced with her quotes, poems, and unpublished Polaroids taken by the icon herself only make you want to pore over the book more. Who knew one of the most riotous women to ever thrash on a guitar dreamed of being an opera singer like Maria Callas? Now, thankfully, we do.