Marc Vallée - Documenting Thierry
Retramp Gallery, Berlin
21 July - 24 July 2022
French male sex worker and political activist Thierry Schaffauser, London, 2012.
“Over the last twenty-plus years, I’ve documented people who in some way disrupt the neoliberal city. My subjects tend to be young, male social transgressors – graffiti writers, skaters, punks and in this case a sex worker...I’m interested in how they disrupt the capitalist system while in pursuit of their own desires and identities.” - Marc Vallée in DAZED Magazine, July, 2022.
Solo exhibition held at the Retramp Gallery, Berlin in July 2022. Twenty A0 DIY paper prints from the Documenting Thierry series were presented alongside a video installation.
“Marc Vallée’s 2017 cult zine Documenting Thierry captured fleeting moments in the everyday life of charismatic male sex worker and political activist Thierry Schaffauser. Composed of candid black and white portraits, the zine revealed Schaffauser’s intimate rituals of shaving and dressing, and photos of him engaged in animated conversations with the photographer alongside more contemplative moments. The pictures, which were all taken between 2010 and 2012, are accompanied by a text in which Schaffauser shares his views on reforming sex worker rights.”
- Emily Dinsdale, DAZED Magazine, July, 2022.
Documenting Thierry, Retramp Gallery, Berlin, 2022.
Thierry Schaffauser speaking to Marc Vallée in London, 2012.
Installing the Documenting Thierry show at the Retramp Gallery, Berlin, 2022.