Rankin and his 'destroy' project

John Rankin Waddell (Rankin) born in 1966, a british contemporary photographer, whose unique take to fashion and portrait photography, inspires many upcoming photographers to take their photos to new levels, new meaning and a new approach not seen by many.
The 'Destroy' project commenced in dedication to the Youth Music's 10th birthday. In lute of the celebration 70 of the worlds renowned musicians and visual artists were collected together to have photographs taken by Rankin which were then donated to Youth Music. In addition to this, the photographs that were taken of each individual participant had their chosen photograph sent to them, which they then had to personalize or 'destroy' in anyway they wanted and suited them. These participating artists included; Joe Strummer, Ian Brown, Andre 3000, Kylie Minogue, Robyn and such bands as Pete and the Pirates, The Enemy and The View.

This project allowed each individual to express themselves in anyway possible. Just as a photographer expresses his/herself with each photoshoot they do, be it landscape or portraiture, it allowed the photographs to have more meaning and be given a new light different from what the art world had seen before.

Rankin had said that the photos were basically a way for each celebrity to comment on what they thought compared to what the media thought or had scrutinised them for. He commented by saying that the photographs that we had seen in the magazine were nothing but glossy lies. With this being said, letting the participant have some influence and impact on the message of the work, bringing their own individuality to the work. Which brought a new intake to the world of photography.

It was interesting to see the creativity of each celebrity, and what message, if they had one, they wanted to portray. For example the picture on the left is the altered version of Kylie Minogue photograph that Rankin took. In order to alter it she used nail varnish, which she focused around her breats which looks as if being scratched out. This represents her battle with breast cancer and how in turn affected her and how she overcame it. Whereas others simply altered their photos to match their personality or what they see.

Looking at the aesthetics, each photo varied. Some were black and white, like this one on the left, obviously with amazing contrasting tones and tonal value and a well thought about composition. Other photos were taken in colour, with the use of front lighting and key lighting to create different shadows on the body and bone structure, and different colour backgrounds In all this Project would have to be my favourite of all time. The way each artist was able to express themselves naturally and however they wanted, with whatever medium they chose. Ranging from oil paints, thread, red markers and nail varnish is really inspiring, it gave his work more emotion, more intimacy and a new meaning.