Fashion and photography have long gone hand-in-hand as creative partners. Saint Laurent agrees. For the upcoming seventh installment of the fashion house’s SELF series, creative director Anthony Vaccarello enlisted six international photographers affiliated with Magnum to produce six distinct images that simultaneously highlight individuality, self-expression, and the Saint Laurent attitude to generate societal commentary. From June 9 to 12, artworks by Olivia Arthur, Birdhead, Harry Gruyaert, Takashi Homma, Daesung Lee and Alex Webb will be showcased in outdoor exhibitions in Paris, London, New York, Tokyo, Seoul and digitally in Shanghai, locations to which the respective photographer has a strong connection. The SELF art series was begun to celebrate artists, photographers and filmmakers that embody the Saint Laurent spirit. The year’s edition, too, will spark conversations about the impact of each work and the legacy of its creator.
Housed in a custom structure, each SELF 07 work aims to entice, to educate and to offer a glimpse into the intimate creative world of its photographer. In New York, an exhibition by Magnum photographer Webb will use layers of light and movement to capture the streets of three culturally rich neighborhoods in downtown Los Angeles—the Pinata, Fashion and Flower districts. Staged in Madison Square Park, the show will be open and accessible to all passersby in the popular live-work neighborhood. Meanwhile, Magnum guest photographer Homma’s exhibition in Tokyo will use the camera obscura technique to demonstrate the dynamic between fashion and the city—from the green rooftop park of Miyashita. In London, at Southbank’s Observation Point, the exhibition by Magnum photographer Arthur titled “So not so” uses natural and unnatural forms to represent the physical world and the importance of touch while at Seoul’s Namsan Tower Magnum guest photographer Lee uses his exhibition to explore the inner self in conjunction with the COVID-19 pandemic.
