Sam Taylor-Johnson (b. 1967) has been at the forefront of contemporary art for decades. From participating in the Venice Biennale in 1997 and receiving a Turner Prize nomination, to directing films like Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) and Back to Black (2024), she is a figure that captures the zeitgeist. Her practice encompasses photography, video and feature film, often confronting the dichotomy between external perception and self-identification. Her latest venture is a book, which draws upon extensive archives to capture the evolution of her vision, including the acrobatic vitality of her iconic "floating" self-portraits and the intimate images made on set and behind-the-scenes of her films. Together, these pictures reveal a career-long inquiry into what constitutes a portrait and how identity can be expressed.
