Photography lovers.. let´s support our friend Danny Baldwin. A photography exhibition celebrating the rise of the Tattooed Male model featuring over 100 Tattooed Male Models by Danny Baldwin. The goal of this project is to fund the exhibition and promotional material of Skin Deep Danny and the team have been working on this project for over 12 months and will only share a few of the images intended for the exhibition since the Kickstarter launched on the website and social media platforms to give you an introduction of who is involved and of the theme of the exhibition will be. The most successful images he has made for this exhibition have been reserved solely for the exhibition to keep them exclusive.
WHAT IS SKIN DEEP?
Long an outsider art form, tattoos have become a powerful form of creative expression used to help individuals stake claim over their bodies – an act perhaps nowhere more meaningful than in the fashion industry.
In his new exhibition, Skin Deep, photographer Danny Baldwin documents a seismic mood change within the fashion industry that has seen agencies shift from representing only models with no tattoos, or those that are easily hidden, to building entire campaigns around elaborately inked individuals. Encouraging acceptance and celebrating individuality, freedom of expression and creativity, Skin Deep features over 100 black and white nude images of professional tattooed male models shot against a stark black, signature background.
Created over the course of a year, it brings together a variety male models, some just starting out in their career, others working for designers such as Versace and Vivienne Westwood, from across a range of different ages, backgrounds and ethnicities, all with one thing in common – their inked skin.
“Over the past few years I started to notice a marked change in the models who worked in front of my camera. In just a short space of time they changed from being fresh faced and clean cut blank canvases, to the sort of models usually referred to as alternative – individuals with an edge of defiance, whose tattoos represent the ownership they have over their bodies,” explains Danny.
As a photographer Danny wanted to document this significant and rapid change in acceptance and to celebrate the art form of tattooing within a fashion setting.
“With Skin Deep I want to show a wider audience something that is visually stimulating and celebrates how these people are breaking the mould of what others think by being true to themselves in an elite industry and expressing who they are through the medium of tattooing,” says Danny.
“With just a lens between them and me, and stripped of the character that a designer’s clothing demands, each tattoo is specific, personal and unique to the bearer, chosen by the model to say something special about themselves.”
Each image will be reproduced in a square format – an homage to the digital and social media platforms that have given rise to Danny’s profile as a photographer.
To give audiences a flavour of what the exhibition will entail, Danny will showcase a limited selection of images on social media ahead of its opening. He will also use social media platforms to introduce the models to a digital audience in a collection of separate images taken especially for the project.
“I wanted to break tradition with the usual portrait formats that you see in exhibitions, and recreate something that pays tribute to the digital media platforms that have pushed my work into the public domain,” says Danny.
“The resulting images are as much about resistance as exposure, the model determines how much, or little, of themselves they give over to the camera. They explore how tattoos can give a true insight into a person’s inner self, or can be used as armour to protect the bearer from those who can’t get past judging what’s on the surface.”
YOUR ROLE
Until now this project has been completely self-funded by Danny with all the models, studios, equipment, and team contributing their time to this project to bring to you something innovative and visually stimulating, whilst documenting something of cultural relevance ; A movement within the fashion and media culture.
With this Kickstarter, your pledges will provide the core funding to pay for the printing of the exhibition and the exhibition space, with successful funding, it is expected the exhibition will be launched in January 2016.
KEEP UP TO DATE WITH SKIN DEEP
Behind the scenes images from the project and any documentation of the project so far that Danny has shared can be seen here:
