Exhibit puts face on 'Soundtrack to Nothing'

The inside of a teenager's mind looks a lot like a movie. Everyday events take on profound importance, time seems elastic and relative, and most importantly, there's a soundtrack, with songs that distill complicated feelings into silver bullets of emotion.

Is it a wonder that coming-of-age stories, then, make such wonderful films? Not to photographer Christy Bush, whose art exhibit, "Soundtrack to Nothing," now on display at Ciné, could be the scrapbook from just such a story.

Six years ago, Bush was wrestling with the idea for a movie. "I wanted to make a film that kind of touched on ... kind of my love of coming-of-age films, (that was) not entirely autobiographical, but (addressed) the fact that I spent my teenage years sort of this frustrated suburban girl that really wanted to be a punk rocker going to shows on Friday night," she says. "While I was struggling being a writer, I went to see an Interpol show in St. Petersburg, Fla.

"I saw these kids there, and they looked exactly like the kids I imagined would be in my movie. ... I asked (them) if I could follow (them) around for the night and just photograph them, thinking that if I made pictures, it would inspire me to actually write the movie and get past page one, which I was writing over and over again.

"Once I got the pictures back, I was looking at them and thinking, 'Why do I need to make a movie?' " she says. "I'm a photographer. I should make a show that feels like a movie but would be something totally different."

Bush set out to find her characters, a search that took three years and had her attending Interpol, The Others, Elefant and The Secret Machines concerts all over the world.

At the same time, a romance between Bush and Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino (now Bush's husband) was developing, and Bush saw an opportunity to get her soundtrack.

She asked Fogarino to be part of the project.

"The first three years (of our relationship) kind of ended up being a collaboration," she says. "It was an interesting way to get to know somebody."

And a lot to ask of a nascent relationship, so Bush treaded lightly. "Every movie had 'the song,' " she explains. "I wanted 'the song,' too, but you can't tell somebody to make you 'the song.' You just can't. You have to hope for it. ... I think he made a beautiful soundtrack, but he did it on his own. I never gave any critiques or anything. I trusted him. I knew he would give me something great. ... I l

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