The contributing artists \u2013 Kaine Harrys Anamalu, Coco Wu, Carina Kehlet Schou, Xueling Chen, Rino Qiu, Camille Lemoine, Maya-Aska Arai, Olivia Chen and Kaiwei Duan, and Lorane Hochst\u00e4tter \u2013 are CSM students and alumnae, each of whom has been chosen for their unique engagement with the fashion image. \u201cAll of these photographers have created their own personal and highly unique visual worlds \u2013 no two are the same. Fashion is not the focus here; instead, it is merely a catalyst for play and visual experimentation,\u201d Conroy says. \u201cThemes explored include humans\u2019 connection to nature, diasporic identity and community, relationships, evolving notions of femininity, and the everyday, with projects captured across the world from Scotland to Shanghai, London to Milan, and beyond.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Geographically and thematically, the scope of the show is vast, but there are certain echoes in the guiding principles behind each artist\u2019s differing practice and preoccupations. \u201cThese photographers are interested in real people and real places,\u201d Conroy adds. \u201cThey have a very personal connection to their subjects, which feels at odds with much of the aspirational and highly staged fashion imagery we see today.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Taking inspiration from the documentary style that emerged in the 1980s in the work of Corinne Day<\/a>, Wolfgang Tillmans<\/a> and other photographers pioneering a new anti-glamorous approach to the medium, Coco Wu is a casting agent and photographer who street-casts her subjects, selecting them for their unconventional, awkward beauty. Meanwhile, Rino Qui\u2019s \u201cmeticulously framed, epic tableaux\u201d resist the myth of effortless, pristine beauty that so many fashion images aspire to conjure. Instead, his work depicts the off-camera aspects of a photo shoot, revealing the hidden mechanisms and invisible labour that go into producing the polished imagery we are used to seeing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFashion imagery is fascinating because it\u2019s not just about clothes. It\u2019s about what people want, who they are, and the whole system behind it\u201d \u2013 Rino Qui<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m interested in moving beyond fashion\u2019s fantastical elements by turning my focus to fashion\u2019s margins: the workers, the downtime, and the infrastructures that support it. I\u2019m drawn to the in-between moments,\u201d Qui tells AnOther. \u201cMy images push back against the notion that fashion imagery must be a flawless fantasy or impose inappropriate glorification on people without their own voice, thus reducing them to spectacles.\u201d<\/p>\n Olivia Chen also shoots real people in her staged photographs of second-generation Chinese youth from Wenzhounese families in Prato, Italy. Moving away from the pristine fashion image with professional models, Chen\u2019s portraits recreate a more documentary-like aesthetic, with a feeling of authenticity.\u00a0<\/p>\n Authenticity is a guiding principle in the work of Scottish-based photographer Camille Lemoine (although there is a touch of the magical about her realism). \u201cHer work feels deeply spiritual and has more in common with the land art genre, and with Ana Mendieta<\/a>\u2019s Silueta series, than with fashion photography as we understand it. It\u2019s about the body, nature, and creating a soulful connection with the earth,\u201d says Conroy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lemoine shoots her fashion images in the bleakly beautiful rural landscapes of her home \u2013 often using friends and family to model garments made from heather, eggshells, feathers and other mystical-seeming materials gathered from the land, all set against a backdrop of what she describes as the \u201cfluctuant weather, the behaviour of light, the repetitiveness of scenery, the subtle changes of season\u201d. \u201cI\u2019m interested in telling personal stories and working with objects and locations I already have a relationship with,\u201d she explains. \u201cClothes are rarely the main focus of my images. I am more interested in telling a personal story and using this to contribute to wider conversations within visual culture.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsewhere in the show, photographer Maya-Aska Arai also looks to the British countryside, exploring perceptions of place and identity and redressing the absence of portraits of people of colour in rural British landscapes. Kaine Harrys Anamalu, an Italian-Nigerian photographer, is forging a new vision for representations of the Black body within the Italian cultural and aesthetic imagination.<\/p>\n Reflecting on his hopes for the future of the industry, Qui says, \u201cI hope fashion photography can move beyond relying solely on one definition of beauty and aspiration. I envision a future where such imagery embraces greater pluralism, stays more connected to real contexts, and places far less emphasis on perfection and hype.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As a body of work, Rethinking Fashion Image is an invitation to consider these ideas, and to contemplate the expanded possibilities of the medium: what can a fashion image be? What can it contain? And who can it portray? Situated in a non-gallery space where visitors to the area can encounter the show as they pass, Conroy hopes it will reach a broader, non-fashion audience and spark an interest in this \u201crich visual world\u201d. She says, \u201cFashion photography is often dismissed as frivolous or commercial, but it is where some of the most interesting artistic innovation and experimentation is happening in the visual arts. It cannot be underestimated.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>
![\"Rethinking](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/463890.jpeg\")
Rino QiuPhotography by Rino Qiu<\/p>\n<\/a>
![\"Rethinking](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/463895.jpeg\")
Photography by Carina Kehlet Schou<\/p>\n<\/a>
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Photography by Kaine Harrys Anamalu<\/a>
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Photography by Kaine Harrys Anamalu<\/p>\n