Welcome to the 78th insertion of DEMUR®, an analytical series highlighting the intricacies of the artistic world and the minutiae lying within. In this episode we sit down with multi-disciplinary artist Jonathan Hallam to explore his work alongside Martin Margiela and the maison.
Since inception in 1988, Maison Margiela has retained two core traits - secrecy and anonymity. Margiela strived to remain unidentified through the course of his reign in hope of removing preconceived notions with regard to the namesake. Only issuing statements under synonyms like “we”, documentation was strictly prohibited inside the house, granted on occasion to select individuals.
While it was extremely difficult to become a part of the exempt, photographer Jonathan Hallam resides among the few. It all began in 1997, when the creative was working as a hairdresser. He was assisting backstage leading up to the Autumn 1998 puppet show, when approached by Margiela himself. “I was wearing a 1960s New York-issue police jacket,” he explains, “Martin asked me loads of questions about it. And I knew all the details – when it was issued and made, for example.”
Unacquainted with the brand’s ethos, Hallam then began taking photos for his portfolio. The designer quickly informed him of their policy, but proposed that he develop the stills and come back. This would mark the beginning of a 12 year partnership, capturing some of fashion’s most lucrative imagery to date.
Of the photographs, his famed work resides as a collection of staff portraits shot with lengthened exposure times in an unreplicable medium. Hallam sourced expired chemicals from a local flea market, the expiry reading “1964”, to rid of negatives and produce photos directly on photographic paper. Blacking out his bathroom to develop the images, he washed each in tupperware containers, incidentally embedding his fingerprints within.
What resulted were blurred, long-exposure employee headshots that exemplified not only the artisanal aspects of Maison Margiela, but also the expedited progression of fashion. Jonathan Hallam was recruited once again in 2004 to create a follow-up series.
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