LGVL is the artistic collaboration consisting of Lydia Garnett and Vic Lentaigne, two emerging female photographers who will open their second show, FACE, in London’s East End tonight.
After the indisputable success of their debut show at the Wayward Gallery in May, the duo are returning to Slaughterhouse Studios in Hoxton with a brand new collection of unseen structured portraits. Much like the first, this follow-up exhibition will showcase an exciting collection of personal photographs, taken from two separate perspectives but with a shared attitude. The new black and white works (pictured) focus heavily on identity, sexuality, androgyny and fashion.
i-D online caught up with the striking pair (pictured bottom) to find out a little more about where they came from, what they are doing now and where they plan to head.
How did the LGVL collaboration come about? We met at university in Brighton, where we found our degree course stifling and uninspiring. Our photography began to adopt similar paths and themes and we bonded over a shared attitude to photo-taking. The collaboration stemmed from these shared attitudes and our relocation from Brighton to London. In London we began to style and produce shoots together, and our collaboration has grown from that.
How do you feel working in a duo rather than as individuals enhances your creativity? We feel really lucky to be able to bounce ideas off each other, and work together to add or develop them. Having two creative visions that unite over a shared attitude makes our final work much stronger than working individually.
Has your work changed since you moved to London? If so, why? Our work is constantly developing and improving. For this second major show, our working methods have definitely become much more structured and styled than any work we produced whilst in Brighton. We have deliberately chosen formal frameworks in our working techniques that have given a more formal edge to our portraiture.
Is fashion a major influence to your work? Fashion is dominant in our work, although its presence comes as more of a bi-product from our subjects. We are more influenced by a person’s look or character and the way that they represent themselves as a whole, rather than an individual piece of clothing that they might wear.
What can we expect from LGVL’s second show? FACE celebrates a collection of portraiture by LGVL with a new structured approach, yet the work still identifies with our original roots that are engrained in our style. We are still exploring what we have always been interested in, youth culture and identity but this time taking a more thought-out approach to portraiture photography. We have also tailored the show to work especially within the curved space of the Slaughterhouse studios.
Which artists inspire you? Both of us have been inspired photographically by the attitudes of Corinne Day and Ryan McGinley and by the ultimate creative duo Gilbert and George!
FACE runs for a month at Slaughterhouse Studios with the Private View on July 28th from 7pm – 10pm.
garnettandlentaigne.com
slaughter-house.co.uk
Photography (bottom): Michael Stephens
