mark borthwick

interview

by OLIVIER ZAHM

 

His poetic, intuitive, and uncompromising vision has made him one of the most influential photographers of his generation, celebrated for an aesthetic shaped by integrity, vulnerability, and luminous accidents. His fashion photography captures not only style but inner presence.

 

OLIVIER ZAHM — Mark, my first impression is that you don’t just photograph people — you photograph intimacy. How do you relate to this idea of intimacy?

MARK BORTHWICK — Well, intimacy is the foundation of who we are. Intimacy can be the relationship between an amalgamation of things, but at its core it’s your relationship to yourself. There’s an intuitive sense of integrity within that suggestion. An intimate relationship comes from a state of mind that is essentially at peace, and if it’s not at peace, then we have an ulterior relationship with what’s happening externally, and we’re not allowing ourselves to feel what’s…