Harley Weir: Strength In Softness

Raised in London’s suburbs, 28-year-old British photographer Harley Weir studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, graduating back in 2010. Today, she is one of the most in demand photographers in the fashion industry, having shot numerous high profile editorials and campaigns, as well as working on original collaborations with Vetements founder, Demna Gvasalia, and 2016 LVMH Prize winner, Grace Wales Bonner. Producing a poetic travel journal during a visit to India earlier this year, the photographer and Wales Bonner teamed up to create a rich portrait of the country’s versions of masculinity, travelling from Delhi to Junagadh.

The self-taught photographer and videographer uses collage and dark room processes to create images with unique texture and tone. Her style reflects her fine art background and eye for finding beauty in everything around her. Weir’s work bridges a generational gap between the analogue photographers of the 90s and the continuous output of the Internet generation. As the creator of evocative and visually enticing images, Weir has quickly become a key name to know in recent years. She has captured the industry’s consciousness through her vision of the sensuality and sensitivity of the human body. Her photography largely moves between tender glimpses of nude bodies and an on-going obsession with youth.

Weir’s career kicked off in 2012 when she signed with Mini Title, the photographic agency and production company, after the founder stumbled upon the artist’s Tumblr page. After being commissioned to shoot for clients such as Armani, AnOther Magazine, and Dazed & Confused, her work quickly became recognised for its gentle tones, dark room aesthetic and focus on the human form. In 2015, Weir signed with Art Partner and has since shot celebrated editorials for publications including Purple Magazine, British Vogue, POP and The Gentlewoman, as well as projects for eminent fashion houses such as Gucci, Proenza Schouler and Céline.

Weir also takes time to work on personal projects. After three trips to the Middle East, she released Boundaries back in 2014. The series of photographs documents people and places in Jordan and Israel. Weir placed herself in the world of her subjects and got personal experience with the places she visited, producing an immersive body of work. More recently, Weir released her photobook Homes, which focuses on Calais’ refugee camp, The Jungle. She spent three days in the camp before it was destroyed and took photos of the homes constructed within it. This is one of her only series that does not include a single image of a person. She felt the people of The Jungle could be seen and understood through the care put into creating their temporary homes.

Notably, Weir is breaking the stereotype of the young, female photographer, taking charge of large shoots and immersing herself into the worlds of her personal projects. During her relatively short career, Weir has championed a style, which she has become recognised for, utilising a soft light reminiscent of Pre-Raphelite paintings. She is inspired by what is around her, be it familiar models in a studio or strangers in Tel Aviv, making her work consistently original. Her most recent work was Five Women for Fifth Sense, a project commissioned by Chanel and i-D, celebrating different women around the world through photos and video. With hints at a collaboration with Louis Vuitton, we eagerly await her next project.

 

On where she finds inspiration:

“I try to be inspired by what’s going on in my own life as much as possible, as I feel that’s the only way to have a unique point of view on things that everyone has seen so many times before. Photography gives me a chance to have a stab at understanding the world – but I’m still figuring things out, so who knows what’s next.” – British Journal of Photography, 2015

On her photographic style:

“A lot of my work is about exaggerating those mundane elements in life, making them beautiful and so allowing people to take notice.” – It’s Nice That, 2014

On her goals as an artist:

“I just want to move someone. It doesn’t really matter what emotion it is really – whether someone’s disgusted, or it reminds them of love or anything like that. Any emotion, I would be very happy. It’s so difficult to move people.”- Bullet Magazine, 2012

On why she chose photography:

“Many, many things drive me but I often feel quite simply that photography is one of the very few paths that can keep my attention. I find it pretty damn difficult to wake up in the morning for anything else.” – British Journal of Photography, 2015

 

Text by Rachel E McLean | Images via Harley Weir