Tag Archives: photography

Alex Webb, Magnum Photos for Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello

SELF 07 by Saint Laurent Explores Works of Artists in 6 Different Cities

Image: Alex Webb, Magnum Photos for Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello.

The connection between fashion and photography is one of the most documented. Clothes and images have been a conduit for self-expression and each aims to tell a story. For Saint Laurent’s seventh instalment of its SELF project, creative director Anthony Vaccarello invited a group of high-profile artists to lens the brand’s personality and spirit through their own imagery styles. 

Simultaneously, Saint Laurent has organised exhibitions to showcase the artists’ works across six major cities like Paris, London, New York, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai. The artists involved in the SELF 07 project are Harry Gruyeart, Olivia Arther, Alex Webb, along with Magnum guest photographers Takashi Homma, Daesung Lee and Birdhead. With the aim to intangibly connect the world, the common thread that unites these different photos is the reverence for human intimacy, the natural world and the urban landscape.

Ahead are the six selected works from the talented photographers and what inspired them.

Harry Gruyeart

Image: Harry Gruyaert, Magnum Photos for Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello.

“I have always been fascinated by airports. They are places that concentrate everything that usually catches my eye as a photographer: the interplay of light, transparency and reflections, the effects of superimpositions that create a loss of reference points and give this very strong impression of being between two worlds. And then, there are the signs — arrows, numbers, letters — that mark out the frame. I have always liked the vocabulary of signage. When I was invited by Anthony Vaccarello to participate in SELF 07 for Saint Laurent, I immediately thought it would be interesting to shoot in this setting and to associate these images with some of the ones I had done before and which are gathered in the book Last Call.”

Olivia Arther

Image: Olivia Arthur, Magnum Photos for Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello.

“So not so” is a series that explores the human relationship with our bodies, our own physicality and the importance of touch and connection. Working with Anthony Vaccarello’s creations for Saint Laurent SELF 07, with movements, interactions, and play, I looked to show the way we touch, connect, and relate to each other. An exploration of the physical world in natural and unnatural forms is also key for me in showing the limits of our physicality.

Our virtual worlds have grown to become a genuine reality and as technology creeps we need to remind ourselves of the hard feeling of a hand on a wall or the clatter of pebbles falling over each other. Incorporating elements of make-believe and play, the real sometimes becomes surreal. And as bodies and heads blend in and out of the spaces around them, it is also intended to serve as a reminder of both our strength and fragility.”

Alex Webb

Image: Alex Webb, Magnum Photos for Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello.

“City streets are alive with vibrant colour, bold geometry, layers of light and movement, and rich diversity. They are the dynamic meeting places where the many worlds of the city cross paths, often in surprising and surreal ways. As a street photographer, I’ve long been drawn to the brilliant colour, searing light, and intensity of life that I first encountered in the streets of Latin America and the Caribbean.

So when I was asked by Anthony Vaccarello to photograph Los Angeles in the spirit of Saint Laurent for SELF 07, I immediately thought of three culturally-rich downtown neighbourhoods — the Pinata District, the Flower District, and the Fashion District — whose deep shadows, brightly painted walls, and vibrant streets are reminiscent of Mexico, where I’ve often wandered. This exhibition brings together my new work from the streets of Los Angeles in conversation with my past work from Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Takashi Homma

Image: Takashi Homma, Magnum Photos guest photographer for Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello.

“The City and Fashion. We live in a huge city called Tokyo. We, dressed in clothes, live and act in the environment of Tokyo. Our actions are in fact constrained and guided by the pressure of the city of Tokyo. I used the camera obscura technique to capture and exhibit the Tokyo environment that surrounds us. The city and fashion are always in a one-to-one relationship. I was pleased to have the opportunity to participate in Saint Laurent’s SELF 07 curated by Anthony Vaccarello.”

Daesung Lee

Image: Daesung Lee, Magnum Photos guest photographer for Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello.

“Spring 2020 was surreal but real. The whole world stopped. No one could easily describe such a feeling in words. Ironically, nature revived and came back to us once we stopped being indoors. Nature gave us back all the forgotten senses. The sky was so blue, more than ever, birds were singing so loudly out of my apartment window and the leaves of the trees in the streets were greener than ever. It was such a surreal experience. Since then, I no longer see the world in the same way. In the meantime, I often had to escape to an imaginary nature in my mind to stand the uncertain future. It was a strange spring. I attempted to visualise that strange experience during lockdown.

An imaginary nature, that you can only see in your inner self, that you can only feel in your own senses. We all lived in our own universe during that time. The SELF project was a unique, exciting, and challenging opportunity to explore and express my inner self in visuality. I hope you can also find yourself in these images. I especially thank Saint Laurent and Anthony Vaccarello, artistic director, and curator of the SELF 07 project for his constant support to artistic freedom of expression and creativity.”

Birdhead

Image: Birdhead, Magnum Photos guest photographer for Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello

“This collaboration is based on the format of photographic matrix — the signature style in “Birdhead World”. Inspired by the harmonic and symbiosis relationship between species that exists in nature, the work exhibits the tangible connection between photographs. The overall contour lines up the cityscape, clothing, and body with natural elements like clouds, trees, and stones. This outline combined with the structure of different light and shade blocks, creates a smooth and free sense of integration, just like the gesture of the cursive script in Chinese calligraphy. Each photograph consists of the work that is the original photograph taken in analog, without any cropping or reframing.

Additionally, through the SELF 07 project curated by Anthony Vaccarello, Birdhead adopted inverted negative photographic prints in their work for the first time. The characteristics of Saint Laurent’s SELF project provide a high degree of freedom, allowing artists to transcend boundaries and explore the possible new resonance of art and fashion in each special era from different perspectives.”

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‘Boys of Volta’ By Jeremy Snell Presents An Interior World, Inseparable From Its Material Reality

The largest artificial reservoir in the world based on surface area, is contained behind the Akosombo Dam. Generating a substantial amount of Ghana’s electricity, Lake Volta spans the distance of approximately 8,502 square kilometres. Taking on a tumultuous life of its own and even the lives of those which pass it by, Lake Volta is imbued with a mortality and movement that not one has ever fully captured.

‘Boys of Volta‘ By Jeremy Snell Presents An Interior World, Inseparable From Its Material Reality

Set out to document the children who reside near Lake Volta, this New York-based photographer and cinematographer from Hawaii, spent a great part of his childhood living with his parents throughout Asia where he was inspired to use photography as a means to explore his surroundings. Known best for his humanitarian work, Jeremy Snell has photographed numerous campaigns for NGO’s such as Water and The International Justice Mission to help bring an end to the world water crisis and modern day slavery, alongside other global campaigns for brands such as Apple, Facebook, WWF and Unicef.

Drawn to portraiture from a young age, Jeremy Snell enjoys the process of visual storytelling through alluding to each subject’s personal backstory, whilst never fully being in control of each outcome – In fact the artist himself once said, “Telling stories of culture and populations not often seen around the world is my greatest desire in photography. My hope is that viewers begin to ask new questions and have new perspectives.”

Dubbed ‘Boys of Volta’, Jeremy’s latest project comprises of a series of photographs of local children set against the backdrop of Lake Volta. The project which follows shortly after his anti-trafficking campaign with non-profit organisation International Justice Mission, showcases an eerie and otherworldly quality of Lake Volta as it glows in a gradient of blue, orange, teal and pink throughout the day and night.

As beautiful as it may appear, beneath Lake Volta’s placid surface lie the skeletons of once dense forests, and every so often the presence of worn tree trunks rise up, out of the water whilst intermittent storms stroke its surface and flashes of lightning tear through the sky. The boys sit submerged, sometimes covered in fishing nets that extend their silhouette, with meditative expressions in the perpetually warm lake.

Traversing the vast body of water on wooden boats as the horizon looms in the distance, creating a sense of vastness that serves as a counterpoint to the deeply intimate portraits. “Once I arrived I was profoundly affected by the beauty and the character of the lake,” Jeremy recalls, “3000 miles of dammed water encompass what used to be large forests and hillsides, so the trunks and tips of thousands of trees can be seen as you drift through its waters. There were massive thunderstorms in the afternoons that would light up the vastness of the lake and strike awe into all those who were on it. Even midday on the lake seemed to have a certain eeriness that accompanied the heat and the floating trees.”

Through facilitating a sense of mutual security and respect with the kids, Jeremy Snell has successfully highlighted the immense beauty and complexity of life in the area, and the treacherous situations some of these kids find themselves in. ‘Boys of Volta’ presents an intimate look into the realities of others across the world, in societies where young boys risk their lives full-time in an effort to feed their families. Available now for estimated £40 via Setanta Books publications, the ‘Boys of Volta’ collection also offers a variety of signed prints and hardcovers.

By Julia Roxan