Earlier this week the artist Bat For Lashes announced details of her third album "The Haunted Man" and released this very striking cover art.
Bat or Natasha Kahn, as she is also known, was striped of everything
including her trademark plumage, eye makeup and hair pieces and
was left to bear all for US photographer Ryan McGinley who is noted
for his nude portraits and naturalistic imagery, also having provided
the album cover for Sigur Rosâ's fifth album.
Natasha told NME magazine: 'I really wanted to strip things back in
honour of women like Patti Smith; just these raw, honest women.
I had no make-up on, it's just me and my haunted man!'
Somewhat shy and demure, Kahn must have felt at ease under the glare
of McGinley's lens, but it's an art he has been practicing since an early age.
McGinley moved from New Jersey, where he was born, to New York in 1998 and began covering the walls of his apartment with the pictures of everyone who visited him there. He then began setting up situations with his envisioned outcomes, documenting the exact moment he held in his minds eye.
He has had many exhibitions and his photos revolve around several themes, the central thread being youth. One such project involved a 2 year road trip following Morrisey on his tour, photographing Morrisey fans as he went.
Here is a selection of McGinley's work, for the most part featuring the pale and skinny limbs which speak of youthful abandon, innocence and innocence lost.
Visit Ryan McGinley's website.
Jessica Hazel is a writer, blogger and director of Smoking Gun Vintage.
