Uncensored by AdeY

AdeY’s identity is unknown, but the photographs speak for themselves. The art is in the borderland of photography and performance and depicts the naked body in playful formations and in minimalistic rooms and empty landscapes. On May 16, the exhibition Uncensored by AdeY opens at CLAMP in New York and will continue through May 25.

This is the final stop in AdeY's Uncensored world tour which has been exhibited in Los Angeles (Galerie XII), London (The Little Black Gallery), Stockholm (Fotografiska), and Falsterbo, Sweden (Falsterbo Photo Art Museum).

No one really knows who AdeY is. The British-Swedish artist’s real name, age and place of residence are still unknown. AdeY left a career as a professional dancer, something evident in the photographs which combine photography, choreography, and performance. They have published a series of poetic photobooks and exhibited in several of the world’s best known galleries and museums, including in London, Los Angeles, Helsinki and Stockholm. 

“I began taking photographs when I worked as a professional dancer and felt the need to erase what I had done before to be taken seriously. People doubt you when you change art forms. I also do not want people to focus on my background but rather my body of work,” says AdeY.

The forms of the exhibition Uncensored began to take shape in 2015–2016, when AdeY, during a period of intense travel, was struck by the sexualization of bodies in advertising images. Then and there, a desire was awoken to show the body just as “only” a body, without reducing it into a sexualized symbol. The images in the exhibit are playful and experimental, with bodies often depicted in choreographed poses or formations. The viewer is given the right to interpret the images, which is an important part of AdeY’s artistry.

“We are happy to continue to support emerging artists like AdeY, whose photographs of bodies illustrate emotions of strength, solitude and vulnerability. AdeY is an artist with incredible potential and whose images continually challenge the viewer,” says Brian Paul Clamp of CLAMP.