Inside Jesse Glazzard’s revealing new Saint Laurent exhibition

Photographer Jesse Glazzard is known for making striking and intimate portraits anchored in his everyday life and wider community. Alongside his commercial and editorial work, Glazzard’s passion projects immerse us in marginal, lesser-known worlds, such as trans boxing gyms, queer camping and underground club nights. Throughout, his photographs are informed by compassion. Whether it be his 2021 zine The World Before Sanitiser (a celebration – and enshrining – of pre-Pandemic queer nightlife) or In Order to Smile in a Tin Box (collected studio portraits of his chosen family, published earlier this year), his pictures are nothing if not loving and tender.  

The West Yorkshire-born, London-based photographer is now the latest in an illustrious line of artists showcased at Saint Laurent’s Rive Droite stores – the fashion house’s creative cultural centres in Paris and Los Angeles. Curated by Yves Saint Laurent’s creative director Anthony Vaccarello, the work on display is accompanied by a zine entitled Testo Diary – many of which are self-portraits documenting the photographer’s transition shot over three years. “I’ve always done self-portraits so it felt natural to document that phase of my life,” says Glazzard. “That work was meant to have some ordinariness to it and I feel like, in the context of the zine, it does.”

“I think vulnerability has a power to it and I’ve always felt that, if I expect that from my subjects, I should show up in that way too” – Jess Glazzard

Among the 40-plus images on display, some photographs feel particularly and intensely personal. How does it feel to make oneself so vulnerable and exposed through his work? “I think vulnerability has a power to it and I’ve always felt that, if I expect that from my subjects, I should show up in that way too. The way I work feels more about a relationship with a person than anything else and with that comes a feeling of intimacy. Most of the images are from long relationships with people.”

Shot in grainy black and white, the images have a timeless, romantic quality. The portrait of a boxer staring impassively at the skipping rope in his hand could almost be a still from a 60s British new wave film (Adidas shorts notwithstanding), while other pictures focus on ephemeral and irreverent details that date the photographs as contemporary. It’s a juxtaposition that feels very characteristic of Glazzard’s work. “I’m really obsessed with the space between mundanity and bizarre,” he explains. “I think mostly just having a laugh and pushing limits with people.”

Glazzard is drawn to zines as a medium. He loves their accessibility – the way they can be produced and disseminated. But to work with a figure such as Anthony Vaccarello and to see himself and his wider queer community adorn the walls of Saint Laurent’s prestigious cultural centres is something else. “I did some manifestations about it at the start of the year,” he says. “It’s also sick to see us on walls we have historically never really been on.” 

The show is part of Vaccarello’s diverse cultural programming at Saint Laurent’s Rive Droite destinations. Glazzard’s new fanzine will also be available to visitors. Visit the gallery above for a closer look at some of the work currently on display at Saint Laurent Rive Droite in Paris and Los Angeles.