Annie Leibovitz's 'Women' project is an almost-perfect study of humankind in 2016
If aliens landed on Earth tomorrow and we had to give them a few things to help them understand the complexity of the human condition, I would make a case for Annie Leibovitz’s body of work Women, currently on show at the Wapping Power Station in London.
Just like the work of Shakespeare or Da Vinci, Leibovitz’s magnum opus is an almost perfect reflection of our kind at a certain point in history. Spanning ethnicities, ages, classes, cultures and gender constructs (don’t be fooled by the title), Women is a snapshot of contemporary society that, in its scale and questioning attitude, acknowledges the impossibility of its own task.
In Leibovitz’s cosmos, world leaders are also mothers and self-doubters and hard labourers; waitresses are presidential; dancers, the guardian angels of consciousness; and scientists, childlike moviegoers watching it all unfold in microscopic little cinemas.
By focusing on women – from Queen Elizabeth II to coal miners, Kim Kardashian and Aung San Suu Kyi to victims of domestic abuse – Leibovitz shows that there really is no such thing as ‘women’ at all; there are just people, with different characteristics and in different circumstances, trying to improve the quality of their lives.
It’s a beautifully hopeful, sometimes analytical, and strangely universal show that speaks volumes about our times in the greatest language we have. Or as Gloria Steinem puts it eloquently in the foreword to the exhibition: “[Annie] looks beyond gender, beyond stereotypes, beyond masks of the day to show us that everything alive is both universal and unique. Including me, including you.”
Annie Leibovitz’s Women is running at the Wapping Power Station in London until February 6 when it embarks on a tour around the world.
You might like
Halloween in Brooklyn, photographed over 50 years
Spirits and soul — Larry Racioppo’s new book documents half a century of the October festivities in New York, while tracing the city’s ever-changing character.
Cruising on the West Side Piers, New York’s wild side
West Side Highway — In the late 20th century, the area was an if-you-know-you-know hotspot for the city’s gay scene. William Howell’s new photobook immortalises it.
Ahilya Bamroo is Gen Z India’s authentic ambassador
Reel relatable — The influencer turned actor speaks about trolls, beauty standards and youth activism.
What went down at Huck’s 20th birthday party
84 issues and counting — We took over east London’s Jaguar Shoes with friends old and new to celebrate two decades and our new issue, with Tony Bontana taking the decks for a special set.
Photos of friends, lovers and afters in Berlin’s party scene
Dreams and How to Keep Them – Vincent Wechselberger’s new monograph documents a decade of hedonism in the German capital, and the people he met along the way.
Inside the Los Angeles scene kid revival
The Rawring ’20s — For the cover of Huck 84, photographer Alexis Gross and writer Anna Zanes meet the latest faces of scene, who are finding freedom to express themselves through its technicolour, unafraid aesthetic.
