Photographer Ellen von Unwerth on her devotion to photographing powerful women:
It all started with a photo of Claudia Schiffer strutting the streets in sky-high Guess jeans in 1989. Since then, Ellen von Unwerth has become one of the most influential fashion photographers in the world, shooting everyone from Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to Rihanna and Madonna.at the recently opened Fotografiska New York, is von Unwerth’s first solo exhibition, and shows how she has unceasingly amplified and documented the female experience.
It was great to see some of your i-D covers in the entrance to the exhibition! You’ve shot a number of icons for us. Do you have a favourite?This exhibition really shows what an incredible range of work you’ve done over the past 30 years. How did you manage to narrow it down? Yeah, exactly. But that was actually the fun part, to put them into juxtapositions, and have something super sexy in Power. It was actually a fun way to play around with the subject.I like them all – they’re all a part of my work and what I love. But the Lust section is one of my favourites, because it’s all work that isn’t necessarily seen in magazines. It’s more private shootings and things that would go in a book or an exhibition, so it’s even more personal than the others.
One of my first pictures is of two girls kissing, and they’re only wearing fishnets – at the time that was really provocative and shocking, and kind of forbidden. But I always played with ideas around gender, and I hope I was one person who kind of pushed it to be more open and free. At the time it was something special, whereas now it’s not so provocative to show two girls kissing, you know? It’s more normal now, which is great.
There is a lot of playfulness in your work, and also a sense of immediacy. The photos grab you straight away, which feels appropriate given our short attention spans nowadays. Even though some of these photos are from 30 years ago, they all feel so relevant to right now. Yeah, I love her! She’s a really fantastic spirit, very rebellious, and very rock and roll. I was actually a bit scared when we shot this picture, because she climbed on the very edge of the balcony and was like, ‘Don’t worry about me!’ She’s very in control of her body, so I was like, ‘OK!’ But you feel the tension in the picture!Definitely! It was also great to see your videos in the exhibition.
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