LONDON — When Dover Street Market relocated in 2016 from its previous address of 17-18 Dover Street in Mayfair to 18-22 Haymarket in Piccadilly Circus, photographer Ryan Collette was there to photograph the move.
The London-based photographer has returned to the multibrand retailer for his new photo book “A Caged Dog Barks the Fiercest,” where it’s stocked as part of the citywide photography fair Photo London.
In the book, Collette shoots more than 70 individuals from Mexico City and shares 30 of the subject’s stories side by side in English and Spanish.
“I didn’t go to Mexico to do this project. I went because the opportunity was there and also all my friends have had babies and stuff — and it’s just not baby season for me right now,” he said in an interview.
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He arrived in the city during the 2024 Mexican general election, and to get a better understanding of the city he took public transportation everywhere and was reading up on Mexico’s sociopolitics.
It was during a club night he was invited to by a friend two months after staying in Mexico City that Collette had the idea to photograph the people around him.
“I’m not really a tourist photographer. I’ve never gone anywhere and snapped [people] in the streets, but the club night I went to, everyone was dressed amazingly, the music was incredible and it was all very fluid and free, in a way that I’ve never seen anywhere else before,” he said. “I took some portraits of my friend’s friends and spoke to them about politics, which quickly developed.”
Collette asked each subject about their experiences of living in Mexico City, what their creative practices are, how they make sense of themselves and where they’re from. He gave each person the freedom to speak openly.
The answers all varied and politics was a running thread for many of the subjects.
“I also think tattooing is political. Skin is just another canvas, another space to put things out there, and there are political tattoos,” said one person, while another contended that “I love my country, but politics and organized crime are becoming increasingly powerful. I don’t see myself living anywhere else, but change is not just necessary — it’s urgent.”
In the photo book, Collette doesn’t reveal who said what and has shuffled the order to make the reader think hard, but also to remove a layer of prejudice.
He didn’t instruct his subject when taking the photographs. “I only composed them and pushed the shutter, but they decided what they wear,” he explained.
There’s an eclectic mix of style within the images — some are in full denim looks, others in black balaclavas, leopard print tights or green tulle.
The project has been an eye-opener for Collette and hopes the audience consuming the photo book will have the same experience.
“The work is based in Mexico City, but what I’m talking about is much wider than that. You can read the book anywhere, but the idea of the book is more about systematic oppression and how our own ideas, judgments, assumptions and biases are formed,” he said.
