Alex Stoddard

This debut monograph from the Los Angeles–based photographer Alex Stoddard explores the parallels between metamorphosis in the natural world and human coming-of-age. Through staged, highly stylized images, Stoddard invites viewers into his magical, colorfully dark world of budding sexuality and crawling insects. Each detailed scene features a youthful subject―often Stoddard himself―in a state of change or paired with a many-legged counterpart. The previously unreleased series of 70 images paints a surreal picture of adolescence and young adulthood in a glorious frenzy of buzzing hormones and sprouting wings.

Insex marks the artist’s first cohesive collection of work, a departure from the stand-alone self-portraits for which he is known. Drawing on his childhood in rural Georgia, Stoddard sets his photographs in a fecund but menacing natural world, where bodies and flora and fauna become interchangeable symbols. Stoddard calls the unbridled metamorphosis in this volume his “love letter to change.”

Alex Stoddard (born 1993) was raised in rural Georgia. He is represented by Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles and has worked for select clients and publications such as Universal Republic Records, Warner Music Group, Refinery29 and Juxtapoz, among others. Additionally, Stoddard has exhibited his work at numerous international venues, including galleries in Paris, New York City, Brussels and Luxembourg City. Insex travels as a solo exhibition in spring 2022.