Capturing the fine line between man and machine

Jesse Draxler’s immense skills in creating weirdly sexual and visually challenging collages and Jen Whitaker’s monochrome and seemingly pristine photographs were a match from the beginning. Both drawn to dark narratives, the duo have been working together on a daily basis for over a year.

The new series PRIM3R – featuring model Sara Cummings – is continuation of PRIMER, originally featured on Dazed last year, and draws inspiration from the 2004 film of the same name. “The new series is about transformation from humankind into machine – creating synthetic beings of organic material, ghosting through dimensions,” explains Draxler.

If the previous series dealt with the riddle of body in the space, this one appears even more sexually charged as two protagonists dissolve and reappear in a careful mess of intertwined hands and legs, eyes and mouths. It’s raw sexuality reminiscent of a 90 photos shoot – transformed and reappropriated.

Collage and art direction Jesse Draxler; photography and art direction Jen Whitaker; styling Blxcklist; set design Kelly Fondry; hair Dylan Chavles; models Sara Cummings, Kris Kidd, Hannah Vandermolen; video Ammo; video score More Ephemerol; clothing by BLXCKLIST