Roe Ethridge on the Art of Collaboration

"The most spark-producing thing for me right now is this magnetism between my girlfriend Lulu and me, and our conversation around the images we're making. It's extremely collaborative - she takes pictures of me too. There is no way these pictures exist without the two of us together - on the bed or in her friend's backyard with this kid's soccer net."

"We're so invested in what we're doing that, in a way, it doesn't really matter if anybody else is. I wouldn't say it's all romance and flowers. Lulu and I are turning into a little bit of a monster together. It's like you just started a band with somebody and you're trying to relearn how to play a three-chord rock song. There's discovery and frustration, but when it sounds good, it sounds better than anything else."

"Across playful portraits, fashion editorials and intimate snapshots from his everyday life, the hyperreal gloss of the American photographer's digital images is often marred by imperfection: an early self-portrait with a black eye, a still life of fruit transforming into ashen mounds of furry mould."

Roe Ethridge, a photographer who has worked across fashion and fine art for nearly three decades with major brands like Balenciaga, discusses his creative process centered on collaboration with his girlfriend Lulu. Their partnership on 'Rude in the Good Way' involves mutual photography and intimate creative dialogue, with images shot in personal spaces like bedrooms and backyards. Ethridge emphasizes that these photographs cannot exist without their collaborative effort and shared investment. He acknowledges the relationship involves both discovery and frustration, comparing it to starting a band. His work characteristically features hyperreal digital images marked by imperfection, and his latest project includes diverse subjects ranging from Lindsay Lohan to erotic portraits, pushing his provocative visual experiments further.

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