Juergen Teller: Young Young · White White presents a vivid photographic journey through some of China’s most dynamic cities, filtered through the unmistakable vision of German photographer Juergen Teller. Known for redefining the language of fashion photography with an approach that blends honesty, humor, and raw immediacy, Teller approaches Shanghai, Wuhan, and Chongqing with the same instinctive curiosity that has long shaped his work. The result is a body of images where fashion, documentary observation, and personal narrative coexist within the restless rhythms of contemporary urban life.
During a trip undertaken with his creative and life partner Dovile Drizyte, Teller photographs Chinese models Xiao Wen Ju, Lina Zhang, and Christina Chung in environments far removed from the polished settings traditionally associated with fashion imagery. Rather than carefully staged studios, the city itself becomes the stage. Narrow alleyways, crowded sidewalks, restaurant kitchens, parking structures, and escalators serve as backdrops where the models interact with the surrounding space in spontaneous and often playful ways. At times they lounge casually near butcher stalls or pause beside anonymous street corners, embodying a sense of immediacy that blurs the boundary between performance and everyday life.
This relaxed atmosphere emerges from a process that combines careful preparation with the photographer’s signature embrace of chance. Working alongside a local production team, Teller orchestrates situations that allow unpredictability to enter the frame. His photographs often carry a deliberately unpolished aesthetic—direct flash, awkward poses, and unexpected compositions—yet these choices reveal a deeper commitment to authenticity. By refusing the conventions of glamour, Teller redirects attention toward individuality, vulnerability, and the subtle humor found in ordinary moments.
Alongside the portraits, the book incorporates self-portraits, images of Drizyte and members of the crew, still lifes, and fragments of the surrounding cityscape. Together these elements form a loose visual diary that echoes Teller’s long-standing belief that art and life remain inseparable. Young Young · White White ultimately becomes less a fashion project than a meditation on presence, personality, and the vibrant contradictions of modern urban experience.
Juergen Teller: Young Young · White White
Category: Photographer Monographs & Art Books
Author: Juergen Teller
Publisher: Steidl
Publication Date:
June 2026
Print Length: 176 pages
Language: English
Price: paid
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