Fusing their respective relationship to Berlin’s underground and the LA punk scene, Jannis Birsner and Matt Lambert have created VITIUM: an entirely Berlin shot photo-zine, portraying the coital subculture of a fraternal cult. 

Lambert published his first photobook, Keim, a sensual account of male intimacy, last year. The pages of VITIUM are populated by a much heavier and explicit contrast. This fraternal, sensual subculture uses sexuality as a wrapper, but it’s a medium that speaks to mutual love, respect and friendship — mirrored in the manifesto found on the pages of the zine. 

“VITIUM has been a shared space for us to put the work we make together that's more playful, subversive, autobiographical and explicit. It comes from the phrase ’Vitium contra naturam’ or ‘vice against nature’, which was Thomas von Aquin's description of the crime of unnatural homosexual urges. VITIUM is a FUCK YOU to this view and an irreverent and intimate celebration of being faggots,” explains Lambert. 

Art Direction Studio Yukiko; publisher Bruno Gmünder

VITIUM is available to purchase here and you can attend the launch event in Berlin here