Looking Back | Toyin

Occasionally I’m reminded of artists’ work that can’t be called current, but which is timeless or, at minimum, possesses some quality that resonates with the immediate moment.  British photographer and filmmaker Toyin blends artistic elements that place her work both in the past and the present, always with a distinctly sexualized perspective.  Her imagery suggests a personal and intimate connection with her subjects.  The recent Bill Henson exhibition, with beautiful, melancholic youth and defocussed light reminded me of Toyin’s collaboration with designer Kim Jones for the A/W ‘03 collection.  The video is below.  Her Cult of Boys series, easily found on YouTube, also provides brief but visually intense bites of her work and her collaboration with Replay gave rise to another great video (which gave rise to the stills in this post). 

She also collaborated with musician Patrick Wolf in producing a music video in the same vein as her Cult of Boys series and Kim Jones collaboration.  Check it out.