Eto 2017.

This image of Eto is a product of revisiting my earlier work during the period(s) of lockdown. Whilst many creatives found sanity and distraction in making new work, I personally found those much needed things came to me through looking back. 

I have come to understand that I am a reflective person by nature.I’m also okay with that.

 For me I also feel that no image is ever final, it’s simply in the place where it’s got to or has been left. 

I think this is why my approach to instagram is about sharing what I feel I want to on any given day. The need for something to be new, fresh, not previously seen speaks less to me than ‘this is what I’d like to show today’. So images, get repeated and for me that’s not a big deal. Of course some prefer to follow the rules (made up by whoever) and treat social media like a military operation. To this I would conclude that I am a lover not a fighter. 

I digress.

To the image. Eto in my studio in 2017. I may have written about this shoot some where in this journal previously (…repetition…as mentioned earlier in this post) I’d been asked to create a shoot for Disorder Magazine and I knew Eto would be perfect for it. I’d met Eto whilst working on Norwich Fashion Week and had a feeling a project would come up that we could work on together…

As a way to start the ball rolling and to chat Eto through my concept for the Disorder project, we got together to make some work and see that worked out. It was super relaxed (V much my vibe) Just me and Eto. I sourced the items and styled this shoot. All of it secondhand and vintage. If you’ve followed my work for a while you will know that for years I’ve been making ‘fashion’ imagery using preloved garms and whilst reading this in 2021 that might not seem radical, even a few years ago it truly was. Industry was pretty much not intersted. Magazines were pretty much not interested. An industry professional said ‘It’s vintage on vintage on vintage’ - to me that was a good thing. To them less so…

But still I persisted and pursued this because I just knew. I just knew. There was something in it. There had to be because consumption couldn’t go on like it was… I was wearing loads of secondhand, I had been for years, I wasn’t special, lots of people were shopping this way but where was it in the magazines back then? Why wasn’t this choice being represented?  I repeat we are talking just a few years ago. 

All that said, working with preloved clothing during this period has been extra intersting as I’ve been able to work whilst watching the world (I say world, by this I mainly mean the fashion world and the gate keepers who I think probably don’t care about fashion that much but do the care about the dollar. Green back is now literally ‘green back’… so about this they care right?..)

On this shoot I cut my hand and there was more blood than seemed suitable for a cut that size, the fuse blew. I highly recommend to everyone when you move in to a studio find out where the fuse box lives. I had not done this… We figured it out. Eto figured it out. Still we only got the lights on and not the plug sockets so no heater, no kettle. Have I mentioned this was in Dec…

It worked though and we created some great looks, brilliant images and from this shoot one of the images was selected to be exhibited in the Photographers United Pro exhibition at Print Space London and so far three have been accepted in to Vogue Italia’s Photo Vogue.   If I manage to get these shown anywhere else, I will certainly let you know.

Big thanks to Wake up Little Susie for the loan of the shirt and the waistcoat - you can visit Susie’s online store here - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/WakeUpLittleSusies

You can find Eto here http://www.crumbagency.com/humans/men/463-eto/

In a break from the title of this journal entry of ‘image’ of the week… here’s a couple more because sometimes you just have to decide on the spot what you want to share at that very moment…

To discuss commissions or general enquires feel free to email me hello@kerrycurl.com  

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