Laurel Thoma's Nine Silver Gelatin Prints

I usually like the imperfect print—the one where the tones shift or it almost looks like a drawing.

Do you have a “that is the one” moment? How do you know when you’re finished? Or do you?

I do. It’s automatic. I usually like the imperfect print—the one where the tones shift or it almost looks like a drawing. That’s when it feels finished, when it’s not too finished. I just know when I've got it right even when it's wrong.

Why did you choose silver gelatin prints for your book? Is there a personal connection or reason you wanted to use it for your self-portraits?

I was drawn to photography because of darkroom printing. Everything else is just to get to that. I have an affinity for the darkroom. I don’t think the work really works without it. The print exists before the photo does.

What role does vulnerability play in your work?

I don’t know. People always say my work is vulnerable but I think it’s just me taking pictures of myself. I think everyone should take more pictures of themselves.

How do you navigate self-observation without self-objectification?

I don’t really worry about it. I don’t think about it. Being an object isn’t so bad. I just look. Sometimes I’m the thing, sometimes I’m the watcher. It doesn’t matter. It’s all just part of the picture. I’m a young woman now, but I won’t always be. The picture is what matters. 'She' doesn’t run the narrative. I see myself through the eyes of the other and I give the image the same credit.

If you keep everything, it becomes important.

Do you see the archive as a form of autobiography, or something more fluid and imaginative?

I just like collecting things. I keep everything. If you keep everything, it becomes important. And you start to see patterns. The story tells itself.

How do you decide what belongs in the personal archive versus what gets left behind?

It’s all personal.

Are there any other types of photography or mediums that you want to work with next?

I want to do something more documentary. I like subcultures. So many ways of living fascinate me. It’s more interesting when it’s not about me. I feel it more when I’m not the center.

It’s all personal.

Any upcoming projects in the works?

Yes. Nine Silver Gelatin Prints comes from a larger body of self portrait work I’ve been making over the past three years. It’s my first photo book. A kind of personal landmark. Something I’ve carried for a long time before putting it out.

If you weren’t doing this what would you be doing?

Watching other people do it.

What is your ideal office?

Somewhere between a church and a basement.

Nine Silver Gelatin Prints, self-published for the Polaroids, Small Prints & Ephemera exhibition, is available through Claire De Rouen Books (London), Dashwood Books (New York), and Yvon Lambert (Paris).

Art

All Silk Roads Lead to Gucci

April 23, 2026

The silk road once dominated the Asia-pacific and cultivated economical prosperity with the purest textiles, a contrast to the modern, oversaturated market of cheap goods. Gucci has never been a cheap name, and their craftsmanship could be mistaken for that of another century. The Art of Silk, curated by Demna from the Gucci Archive in Florence, pays homage to the house’s journey with silk. Ten scarves reimagine archival designs of flora, animalia, and nautical prints - motifs of the primordial garden of Gucci. These limited-edition pieces were birthed in Calabria in collaboration with Nido di Seta and Ongetta. The fine Italian silk encapsulates more than Gucci’s reputation, but the tradition of mulberry cultivation. The project revives a once-thriving silk supply chain, recovering abandoned land, fostering employment in communities, supporting small farmers, and powered by renewable energy. It’s a production that innovates how tradition, community, and sustainability can stay preserved in the contemporary world.

In addition to this heritage preservation, the campaign represents Gucci’s contribution to the world of art and education. Two exclusive flora scarves were created for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, celebrating its opening of the new David Geffen Galleries. Available exclusively at the LACMA Store and the Gucci Beverly Hills flagship store, the designs pull inspiration from Vittorio Accornero’s 1966 illustrations. In partnership with the Accademia delle Belle Arti di Firenze, selected student paintings of each scarf will be displayed at the Gucci Rodeo Drive store in LA. Gucci supports these participating students through scholarships, reinforcing the house’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of creative talent. The Art of Silk bridges the old and new world, breathing life into past traditions and future endeavors.

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Wynnie Mynerva at Société: A History of Love and Politics

April 23, 2026

At Société Berlin, Peruvian artist Wynnie Mynerva unveils Volveré y seré millones, an exhibition of paintings, videos and installations. Born in 1992, Mynerva is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice explores identity, intimacy and inequality. Their latest project examines the intersection between love and politics.

Translating to “I will return and I will be millions,” Volveré y seré millones draws on an important phrase for liberation in South American history. It is tied to Túpac Amaru II, an Indigenous Peruvian leader who rebelled against Spanish colonial rule in the early 1780s. It is also attributed to the iconic figure Eva Perón who stood against political injustice and class inequality in 1950s Argentina.

Text by JohnOswald Crichton
Photography by Michi de Pichi and Ana Bálcaza

This title becomes a proclamation that frames an exhibition in which Mynerva uses large scale imagery to reimagine the human body as a canvas to explore the meaning of power and love. This is inspired by their personal experiences of violence tied to race, gender and sexuality. Volveré y seré millones runs from May 1st to June 27th and is an important statement on inequality expressed through visceral artwork.

Art

Les Krims' Fictcryptokrimsographs: Naked Since '74

April 20, 2026

Absurdist, perverse and grotesque: words that could define Les Krims’ Fictcryptokrimsographs. The American conceptual photographer originally published the series as a small book of the same name, comprising forty darkly satirical Polaroids created between 1974 and 1975.

Shown over 50 years later at London’s Graces Mews, the manipulated nudes use exaggerated posing and surrealism to present the female body as a rejection of the media’s expectations of beauty, whilst staging domestic intimacy as something awkward and uneasy. Following the April 16th opening, one image lingers most; a Polaroid in the basement that appears to capture an uncomfortable moment right before intercourse. Sex runs throughout. For Les Krims, nothing is ever off limits.

A provocative piece of counterculture set across two floors, Fictcryptokrimsographs runs from April 17th until May 23rd at Graces Mews in Camberwell, London.