BITCHES: A SOLE SHOW BY DANIEL SACHON

THE IDEA

Daniel Sachon, is a British image maker and creative director who has worked with Nadia Lee Cohen, Duckie Thot and Dolce & Gabbana approached us to come up with 7 worlds photoshoot to then showcase at his upcoming ‘Bitches’ exhibition in Soho, London.

THE PROCESS

Image-maker Daniel Sachon revealed a never-before-seen photography series BITCHES in Soho during Frieze week. The irreverent and tongue-in-cheek photographs stage mise-en-scenes feature an all-star cast of famous and fabulous women, accompanied by a selection of stunning dogs that humorously mirror their human counterparts.

Shot by Sachon in London and Los Angeles, the series title BITCHES is a double entendre that speaks to the spirit of play and provocation present in these photographs of remarkable women and surprisingly glamourous dogs. The series brings together women who have likely, at one point or another, been labelled a ‘bitch’, whether because of their beauty, success, independence or self-assuredness. It celebrates these characteristics, picturing women (and dogs) who are unabashed, daring and authentic. BITCHES embraces our societal fascination with visual media and our obsession with commerce, culture, glamour and celebrity, ultimately celebrating the incredible women at the heart of it all

Images feature: fine artist and muse, Ariana Papademetropolous, model, Ariish Wol, stylist for the likes of Madonna and Beyonce, B Akerlund, social media savant, Beauty Spock, granddaughter of Vivienne Westwood, Cora Corre, musician and fashion muse, Cosima, supermodel, Georgia May Jagger, transgender model and social media savant, Ivana Vladislava, daughter of John Paul Getty and fashion muse, Ivy Getty, supermodel Jourdan Dunn, supermodel, Leomie Anderson, fashion designer, Mimi Wade, fashion designer, Mowalola, fine artist and photographer, Nadia Lee Cohen, model and writer, Nassia, and fashion muse and accessories designer, Zizi Donohoe.

THE RESULT

The week long exhibition was an immense success with A-Listers in attendance and publications such as Tatler Magazine, Artsy, Bricks Magazine and Arts & Collection covering the event.

DESIGN | ART DIRECTION | STYLING | PROPS | SET DESIGN & BUILD | WINDOW DESIGN & PRODUCTION | FURNITURE HIRE | INSTALLATION

Daniel Sachon loves bitches!
Both the female and the canine variety.

BITCHES in an-on-the nose provocation. Bitches: women and dogs, hardly a subtle connotation. But that’s the point, and can’t you take a joke? Especially when it’s this
gorgeous. You might laugh if you weren’t drooling.

The ironic wink in BITCHES is of course intentional. The obvious amalgamation of chicks-n-dogs knowingly belies a sophistication. Sachon’s bitches are not the basic
variety. Rather, his aesthetic channels famed feminist scholar Jo Freeman’s 1968 ‘Bitch Manifesto’ declaration: ‘We must be strong … we must be dangerous. We must realize that Bitch is Beautiful and that we have nothing to lose.’

When the concept of femininity has never been more wonderfully nebulous, these images cast a variety of women in all their diversities as self-professed bitches. Roald Dahl named his infamous collection of erotic short stories (originally written for Playboy magazine between 1965-74) Switch Bitch. In Sachon’s images the bitch switches from female to canine. Seduction and satire are running themes in both.

Hemingway often referred to his lascivious female protagonists as ‘bitch- goddesses’. Though we’ve come leaps and bounds from Hemingway’s feminine archetypes, vestiges of a bitch-goddess sentiment are to be found here. With bombastic high glamour, lashings of camp, and a clear reverence for the women (and pooches) that are his subjects, BITCHES is Sachon’s wry smiled riposte to a once derogatory slander of the feminine condition.

‘You bitch!’ …. What an accolade! Woof!

Words by Georgia Hobday