Starmonkeyz PinUps

For years, during their travels in the USA and Europe, they met and photographed women whose lives and bodies did not always fit the mold of our society.

Their stories, often out of the ordinary, also attracted them because they vibrated to the rhythm of the protests that were to give birth to movements like “Me-too”, “Black lives matter” or “Pro-Choice”.

It is in this climate that the Pin Up StarMonkeyz was born.

Very naturally, the cheeky vitality of those they photograph led them to the idea of ​​diverting the codes of glamor and Pop culture through the figure of the Pin Up.

Dressed up and valiant, the Pin Up StarMonkeyz would be the humorous and self-deprecating spokesperson for these women and their struggles.

Very quickly, they set up a traveling studio which made friendly encounters and benevolence its two main engines.

Each shooting session was the culmination of passionate discussions where the photo to come, the disguise, the make-up that were to follow were discussed by the photographer and the model in complete complicity.

It was not a question of imposing the unambiguous vision of the creator but of inventing together a Pin Up which would know how to embody with humor and lightness the failings of our time.

Pollution, sexism, inequalities, racism, violence... Thinking that the aesthetics of the 50s and Pierre & Gilles, would weigh down the PinUp with sufficient impact. Each photo was the fruit of intense research into the make-up, clothing and lights that could bring the famous Pin Up to life.

The result is there: under lace and leather, armed with mascara and their own story, these very much alive women denounce with a smile a world that is no longer going very well.

Pierre Garcin Writer, Aix 2021

Superficial Buddhist

Portland 2017

https://www.instagram.com/starmonkeyzpro/