World’s most iconic fashion photographer Mario Testino showcases for the first time in Europe a dense portfolio of photographic work at his latest exhibition “In Your Face” at the Kunstbibliothek in Berlin. The show ‘Mario Testino: In Your Face’ (20 January – 26 July 2015) presents the full range of his photographic work, in 125 images, placing particular emphasis on its provocative contrasts. The exhibition was realised in partnership with Swarovski.
This is the first time ‘In Your Face’ has been exhibited in Europe following its premiere in 2012 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It has also been shown at the Museo de Arte Latinoamericana de Buenos Aires (MALBA) and at the Museu de Arte Brasileira (FAAP) in São Paolo in 2014. The exhibition explores and celebrates the innovation and diversity in Testino’s photography, which evokes elegance, irreverence and contradiction. Testino was involved with the selection and layout of the works, juxtaposing formal portraits with private snapshots, nudes with fashion, and black and white with colour.
“In Your Face, for me, represents the most free way of expression”, says Testino. “As an image-maker people always want to put you in a box. I believe we are made of many different aspects and not always are we allowed to let all these different aspects show, let alone to live next to each other as they do in this exhibition. This particular hanging style for these photographic works allows all of these different aspects of my curiosity to have a conversation; they not only exist on their own but trigger a reaction when being next to each other.”
Mario Testino: In Your Face Exhibition | all images © MARIO TESTINO – courtesy of KUNSTBIBLIOTHEK