Just a stone’s throw from Central Saint Martins (CSM), in Coal Drops Yard, you’ll find nine glowing lightbox displays of photographic intrigue. A girl lies supine in a field reminiscent of a Andrew Wyeth painting; a colourful spill of pin tacks glints from a woman’s shiny black hair; and a cinematic wide-shot tableau captures a model scrolling on her phone inside a vast photographic set. At first glance, you might not recognise these to be fashion images – but they are. Part of a new exhibition curated by writer and editor Violet Conroy, ‘Rethinking Fashion Image’ showcases the work of nine students and alumni from Central Saint Martins who are challenging the boundaries of fashion photography today. Exploring themes of selfhood in the modern age, humanity’s place in nature, and diasporic belonging, their work is reflective of a new generation intent on dismantling outdated stereotypes of glamour and exclusivity in favour of stories with more substance.
‘CSM has been an incubator for so many amazing photographers, many of whom have gone on to big careers in fashion,’ says Conroy, who was invited to curate the show by CSM lecturer Adam Murray. ‘I went in with no theme, but as I looked at the work, threads began to emerge. Much of the work is about identity and selfhood, and it’s really rooted in people and place. A lot of the work wouldn’t even conventionally be categorised as fashion imagery at all.’ Conroy points to the legacy of an anti-glamour style established by photographers like Corinne Day and Wolfgang Tillmans in the 1990s, which has stippled into various forms of contemporary realism today. ‘Something that’s interesting is the casting,’ she says. ‘There aren’t any traditional models in any of the photographs. It’s really inclusive casting and more conventional, everyday people. I think that’s because there’s less of an interest in glossy, unattainable fantasies today.’
Together, these works highlight a new school of talent driven by a desire to establish their own visually rich worlds, rather than simply producing beautiful images. Displayed outdoors for the public to see, Conroy hopes the exhibition will reach beyond the echo chamber of fashion to a wider audience. ‘It’s exciting that it’s in these windows rather than a gallery, because it means it’s on the street,’ she says. ‘I want people walking past to see it, and maybe be interested in these young visual talents they wouldn’t encounter otherwise.’
As the show opens this weekend, coinciding with the start of London Fashion Week, here five of the exhibited image-makers tell the stories behind their work in their own words.
A new London exhibition celebrates the work of nine rising fashion image-makers from CSM
Carina Kehlet Schou (top)
‘I was born on the eastern coast of Denmark and grew up on the south east coast of the UK.
‘My work often only shows one subject in a state of detachment – even if there are multiple subjects in an image, they are emotionally distanced from each other. The work in this exhibition forms part of a yet unfinished series tentatively titled Aletheia, an Ancient Greek term meaning ‘disclosure,’ ‘revealing,’ ‘unhiddenness,’ and ‘reality.’ In Greek mythology, Aletheia was the goddess of truth. The notion of truth, and the search for meaning, is something I am always thinking about. In this context, I have been particularly engaged with William A. Ewing’s idea that ‘all photographs portray desire’ – a phrase which I continue to excavate through my work.
‘I’ve often worried about which world my work belongs to, since I feel like I’m neither a fashion photographer nor an art photographer, but somewhere in between. With this exhibition, Violet and Adam are opening doors for photographers who find themselves in that space, and that feels so exciting to be a part of.’
Rino Qiu
(Image credit: Photography Rino Qiu. Courtesy of UAL)
‘My academic background was originally in mechanical engineering before I went to CSM. My photographic practice is influenced by contemporary photography and architecture. I often look to artists such as Jeff Wall and Nigel Shafran, whose works inspire me with their sense of contingency and authenticity. I mainly shoot with a medium-format digital camera as I want the images to retain traces of time and place, rather than becoming merely perfect pictures. My work often focuses on the people and spaces behind the fashion industry, paying attention to overlooked workers, working environments, and moments out of the spotlight.
‘This photo was taken at a photography base in Shanghai in August 2024, where I participated in the design and construction of the set. Notice the electric fan in the frame – it is new and fresh with the smell of the paint. In the foreground is a model in casual clothes holding a mobile phone, whom I captured after a fashion shoot. This image seeks to capture a sense of fashion in the everyday – the real people, spaces, and emotions that lie behind the scenes. I tried to convey the fragility and resilience of the individual in the vast machine of China‘s fashion industry.’
Kaine Harrys Anamalu
(Image credit: Photography by Kaine Harrys Anamalu. Courtesy of UAL)
‘I am a Nigerian-Italian photographer working between London and Milan. My work explores presence and identity and the image’s capacity to hold both personal memory and collective imagination. I work primarily with medium format photography and Polaroids, because they allow me to oscillate between clarity and ambiguity. I draw on influences from the visual arts of the 1930s, Italian cinema of the 1950s and 60s, and Negritude, while reflecting the lived experiences of diaspora. Ultimately, I am interested in how the body appears in space, how it carries history, and how the image might propose a new centre of gravity.
‘The works I’m exhibiting are two studio portraits made earlier this year. They reflect my interest in how a photograph can hold presence – not through performance, but through restraint. Together they hold a tension between intimacy and distance, presence and absence. This tension is what interests me, especially in relation to the Black subject, whose image has too often been cast in extremes. Being part of this exhibition means entering into a broader conversation about what fashion image-making can be. It matters that these portraits are shown publicly – not as a gesture of inclusion, but as a way of proposing another way of seeing, another way of being seen.’
Xueling Chen
(Image credit: Photography by Xueling Chen. Courtesy of UAL)
‘The works in this exhibition were chosen from a larger group of images I submitted to my tutor between the years 2017 and 2019. These images are among the core works from my series ‘City Blue’. At that time, I had not yet been exposed to commercial photography. I was very inexperienced, and my motivation and inspiration for taking pictures came almost entirely from a raw and simple instinct. I was deeply curious about the world and about people. I would take models to explore ruins and shoot photographs in those forgotten spaces. My understanding of sexuality and desire was also very naïve then, and I believe that sense of confusion is reflected in the images from this series. The title ‘City Blue’ was inspired by the French erotic film Betty Blue, which I found incredibly beautiful. For me, participating in this exhibition is a rare opportunity to show my work in London. I have always hoped to bring China’s underground photography onto a larger stage. This kind of work is still considered a kind of subculture in China, but I believe every visual style carries its own possibilities.’
Camille Lemoine
(Image credit: Photography by Camille Lemoine. Courtesy of UAL)
‘The work that is in this show is from my series ‘Down Tower Road’. This work was made in response to not seeing my experience of living in rural Scotland reflected in photography, which typically relies on literal depictions of the landscape, such as farming, landmarks or dramatic vistas, rather than how it feels to exist here. I wanted to instead create imagery that communicates the subtle language of the land and that questions what it means to deeply know a place. I draw attention to things like the dark blue before heavy rain, the shape of the hedge where the sparrows live, the distinct way that the light unfolds. The often seemingly insignificant things that people living in these places interact with and feel a familiarity to. All of the work was made in my hometown, Baldernock, between 2023 and 2024, and combines my love for the location I grew up in, constructed scenes and documentary.
‘I feel very grateful and proud to be part of this exhibition alongside nine other brilliant photographers. Clothes have never been the focal point to my images and I’ve always been more interested in engaging with my own life experiences through my work. It’s really exciting to be part of a wider conversation surrounding the role of fashion imagery in visual culture today.’
Rethinking Fashion Image is on view at Lower Stable Street Lightboxes, King’s Cross, until 5 January 2026. Exhibited photographers are Kaine Harrys Anamalu, Coco Wu, Carina Kehlet Schou, Xueling Chen, Rino Qiu, Camille Lemoine, Maya-Aska Arai, Olivia Chen & Kaiwei Duan and Lorane Hochstatter.
