Naomi

These are from the exhibition ‘Naomi’ about the model Naomi Campbell that is running at the V&A in London until 6 April.

The top image is from a video of Naomi – in costume, on film sets, on the street – that I shot through a gap in the people in the exhibition watching the video.

The second shot is a photo of a contact sheet photographed bý Rico Puhlmann in the late 1980s. I’ve linked to the image file so you can click it and see it much bigger. Notice the shot with the red chinagraph marks that was chosen.

What made it the one to choose? Opinions in the comments.

“BECOMING NAOMI

‘I never thought I was going to be a model?

Naomi Campbell was approached, age 15, by model agent Beth Boldt while out with school friends in London’s Covent Garden. Just two years later, she graced the pages of British Elle and the front cover of British Vogue and was walking for acclaimed designers in London, Paris, Milan and New York. Foundational to her meteoric rise were dedication, training and a love of theatre and dance.

Born in 1970 in London, Campbell aspired to a theatre career and, as a child, performed in music videos for artists including Bob Marley and Culture Club. Initial modelling assignments included editorials, clothing catalogues and advertisements. Photographers drew upon her dance background to direct her poses. Describing her early forays into fashion, Campbell recalls that it was ‘a new world that I was not familiar with, I felt that I had to be apprehensive and aloof and cautious, just until I could get my footing and feel comfortable.”