The images included in the Vivienne Westwood Opus have been taken by Zenon Texeira on one of the few Polaroid 20 x 24 cameras worldwide. There is only one such camera in Europe, located in Prague, which for this project was taken to Paris and London for special photo shoots of Vivienne Westwood's friends and family wearing her collections, which influenced her manifesto – Active Resistance to Propaganda – which accompanies the images.
This huge piece of photographic equipment, 152cm high and weighing 107kg, was originally developed to enable the accurate reproduction of works of art such as paintings and tapestries. However, seeing the gorgeous, superbly-detailed 20 x 24in (50 x 60cm) prints the camera produces, photographers soon started to use it as a creative tool.
Because of the camera. The dinosaur of technological evolution. A once in a lifetime opportunity to record a moment in time.Vivienne Westwood on the Polaroid Camera
The Studio camera uses a continuous roll of film rather than separate sheets; the negative is destroyed in the process, so each print is a genuine one-off. The patterning around the edge of the image (produced by the developing chemicals) is similarly unique to each print. As for the distinctive sepia tinting, this is the result of deliberately using mismatched components, a quirky film combination that produces some beautiful imagery.
The Vivienne Westwood Opus includes 97 originally sized Polaroids which were shot in black and white, colour and sepia film.
The Polaroid 20 x 24 Studio camera is five-feet high and weighs in at 235 pounds.
© 2008 Kraken Group
London – Dubai – New York – Channel Islands – Miami – San Francisco – Los Angeles
London – Dubai – New York – Channel Islands – Miami – San Francisco – Los Angeles