After leaving Vogue, Edward Enninful returns to exhibit Robert Mapplethorpe

At 52, Edward Enninful left as editor-in-chief of the English Rowing something he carried out brilliantly from 2017 until his last cover in March 2024, for which he managed to bring together 40 personalities who have marked his career. He has been making and unmaking fashion for almost thirty years, first as a model (from the age of 16), then as a stylist (from 18 to id), and now as an industry luminary (past the Rowing American and Italian, e W, so almost everyone is wondering what the next step in their career will be. While rumors see him succeeding Anna Wintour (currently chief content officer of all of Condé Nast and global editorial director of Rowing), Edward Enninful surprises his world by exhibiting Robert Mapplethorpe on the sidelines of the autumn-winter 2024-2025 fashion week in Paris.

Edward Enninful and photography, is much more than a story of fashion and modeling

Indeed, in Thaddaeus Ropac’s Parisian gallery, he welcomes his vision of the scandalous photographer (born in 1946 and died in 1989) who captured BDSM sex scenes with the same meticulousness as his still lifes of orchids. Being a black man himself, Edward Enninful also wanted to question the fetishistic dimension of the American artist also known for his erotic and objectifying photos of black male nudes, in particular of fitness instructor Ken Moody. Nearby CaretakerEdward Enninful remembers discovering these photos as a teenager and the thoughts they still inspire in him:

“Back then I was a bald, dark-skinned model. I saw myself in Ken Moody. I loved the way Mapplethorpe used light. It was so powerful that you wanted to touch the image. There was a sense that something new and incredible was happening in his work. […] Throughout history, black men have been portrayed in many ways. We have been accustomed to creating some of the most iconic images. We need to continue the debate about objectification. But we must address the images that define men and women: they cannot be limited to black men. »

Edward Enninful exhibits Robert Mapplethorpe in Paris to question our representations

Depriving photographic models of their agency during a shooting is something that Edward Enninful himself suffered and observed, and which he does not reproduce with his shots, he continues, always with the Caretaker :

“I used to be a model, so I understand what it’s like to be on set and have no say, when you’re in charge of the image and the shoot. I was very lucky to have such people [le grand styliste britannique] Simon Foxton e [le photographe] Nick Knight, who encouraged me to speak out. Being a model is not easy: they always tell you to shut up, your opinion matters less. So when I work with Kate [Moss] or Naomi [Campbell], we work together on stories, we develop characters – that’s something I’ve really learned since we started. »

It is with this reasoning in mind that Edward Enninful examined thousands of photos produced by Robert Mapplethorpe as part of the foundation that looks after his estate, to select 46 which he then exhibited in Paris from 2 March to 6 April 2024. We see many celebrities in photos like Fran Lebowitz, Isabella Rossellini, Susan Sarandon and Arnold Schwarzenegger. But also black male nudes. As well as more little-known photos, which reveal a bit of the photographer’s humor. As we increasingly question our contemporary representations of what constitutes the female gaze or the male gaze, this exhibition extends these reflections to the intersection between issues of racial fetishization and homoeroticism. For the media Komitid, I had actually consulted several experts on these issues, both aesthetic and political. Because, more than fashion, Robert Mapplethorpe’s work has perhaps had a much more extensive impact on our retinas and on our ways of seeing the world, otherness and our own identities.