“Marc Vallée is one of my favourite contemporary photographers. Many artists are photographing the young, but Vallée’s work is exceptional and solitary, avoiding the kneejerk tendency to either define the young through their fashion sense or create the impression of communing with them by smothering them with fashionable aesthetics. His photographs are fully interested in their subjects, somehow more respectful of their beauty and emotions and, at the same time, more invasive of their privacy than any other youth oriented images out there. Vallée’s work is ravishing, noble, unique, and irresistible.” – Dennis Cooper.

Audio slideshow above: Author Dom Lyne at home in London talking about his work and mental health.

Context: Marc Vallée has been documenting the energy, self-expression and idealism of different sub-sections of youth culture since the mid 1990s. Authenticity is what you get with Marc, he depicts and shoots what he knows from the inside.

Prints above:  Andreas, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYC, 2006. | Lloyd and Jamie, east London, 1997. | Skirtbox playing at the Blue Room in Watford, 2000.

Audio slideshow above: Male sex worker Thierry Schaffauser on the social, political and economic issues facing sex workers in Britain today.

Prints above: Joe, Soho, London, 2011.