Story
“The five of them are like no five people I’ve ever met in my life; their characters are so big and so much fun. I shot this pro bono for The Big Issue. I was really excited to meet them because their debut single was massive and their personalities were massive. People talk about them being manufactured, but it didn’t feel manufactured.
What I really love is that so many young women, and young men, that have come in to collaborate with me over the last ten years have been so influenced by this band. They often say they had one of the pictures from this photoshoot on their wall. It’s so nice to know my work was there. A lot of what’s happened with equality in the last few years comes from the girls in this band inspiring kids and young teenagers to go for it.”
- Rankin, ‘The Bad Boy of Celebrity Photography’, Interview Magazine, 2020
Photographed for The Big Issue in 1996, Rankin met the Spice Girls and took many of their most iconic images from the mid-1990s. Showcasing each band member's personality not only through their iconic style, but through pose, position and reaction to his camera.
Details
Spice Girls Contact Sheet
The Big Issue, 1996
Limited Edition Inkjet Print
20 x 24 inches
Edition of 500
Comes with signed Certificate of Authenticity
Rankin
As a photographer Rankin's portfolio ranges from portraiture to documentary. He has shot The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Kate Moss, Kendall Jenner and The Queen to name only a few.
He is best known for work that is on the cultural cusp and leading future trends: producing rule-breaking campaigns for brands such as Rolls Royce, Unilever, L’Oreal and Samsonite; creating wide reaching projects for charities including Women’s Aid and Macmillan; and shooting music videos for the likes of Miley Cyrus, Rita Ora and Kelis.
As a publisher, Rankin co-founded the seminal magazine Dazed & Confused with Jefferson Hack in 1991, and has since published the likes of AnOther and AnOther Man, alongside over 40 books and the biannual fashion and culture print and digital platform, Hunger.
His photography has been published everywhere from his own publications to Elle, Vogue, Esquire, GQ, Rolling Stone, and Wonderland, and exhibited in galleries globally, including MoMA, New York, and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
Rankin lives in London with his wife Tuuli and their dogs.
Inkjet Printing
Rankin's inkjet pieces are printed on a Semimatte or silk paper finishes. Using a 10 colour large format professional Epson printer under the careful eye of the Rankin Studio team.