New magazine BODIES sticks its fingers into our flesh prisons

A new magazine from Bior Elliott and Kazeem Kuteyi promises to chuck a liferaft into a maelstrom of clickbait. “The media landscape is overly saturated but there are fewer and fewer magazines, so we’re using this publication to separate the filler from the killer,” the New Currency duo explain. The magazine explores the ways in which culture and technology work together to oppress and liberate the human body, and in a stunning coincidence, the publication is also called BODIES. 

“We feel that talking about the body is more relevant now than ever. Three years since lockdown was lifted, we’re still coming to terms with the consequences of alienation, vulnerability, and isolation,” Elliott and Kuteyi add. “But the body is also fashion’s first point of contact and many of the artists we wanted to work with come from that scene.” They do this both literally and figuratively: showcasing the work of Arlette (who creates metal clothing) and Rosie Broadhead (who is developing new techniques to improve and regulate the physical health of those who wear her stuff) alongside more abstract takes on the absurdity of bodies from artists Jamie Shilvock, Erica Ohmi and Anna Pesonen. 

Even the magazine itself has been designed to evoke the sensation of being locked into a flesh-lined prison. Each cover (shot by Deion Squires, Bella Santucci, and Ayomide Tejuosho) displays the front of a body while back covers exhibit the rear. The spine of the publication has been inscribed with a James Messiah poem as a metaphor for how the spinal cord transmits information. “The most important thing to understand is that BODIES is supposed to feel like a slow magazine. It’s a one-off survey of artists who have been working for the last half-decade.” Among the contributors are Meemee White, Caleb Femi, Gabriel Moses, Ester Mejibovski, and Joseph Lokko – many of whom have been longtime collaborators of New Currency. 

But it’s Jesse Crankson’s, Squires’, and Tejuosho’s work that is perhaps most totemic of the point and purpose of the project. “It was a lovely full-circle moment to be able to give Jesse a cover since he was the first photographer I ever worked with professionally as an art director,” Elliott says. “The shoot isn’t just visually strong but it also comments on our relationship with media and the devices we consume it through.” As for Squires and Tejuosho, Kuteyi believes “their photos blend realities, and their emotive qualities crawl under your skin.” Click through the gallery above to see what else is on offer from BODIES and head over here to purchase a copy.