Acne Paper Palais Royal opened 2026 with Angels With Dirty Faces, a new exhibition by Jordan Hemingway on view from January 22 through March 15. The presentation introduces a body of recent work that places Hemingway’s photography at the core of the exhibition. The gallery frames the show as a direct response to conditions beyond its walls, using scale, sequencing, and atmosphere to shape how viewers encounter the images.
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The works follow a predominantly monochrome approach that examines beauty and the macabre through figures, gestures, and rituals. Hemingway directs attention to icons drawn from cultural memory and religious reference, then examines how bodies enact those forms through physical presence. Each image functions independently while contributing to a broader reading of humanity and belief. The photographs engage tension, ritual, and vulnerability through posture, gaze, and surface, allowing contrast to emerge.
Hemingway describes the figures as cultural beings defined by desire, freedom, and intensity. He speaks of clenched fists, sleepless eyes, and a sense of fullness that comes from exposure to darkness as well as vitality. The artist refers to these subjects as angels, each carrying a private secret. His words frame the series as a study of opposition within the self, where strength coexists with fragility and resistance shares space with beauty.
The exhibition brings together a notable cast of sitters, including Marina Abramović, Yves Tumor, Mariacarla Boscono, and Lewis G. Burton of Matières Fécales. Their presence supports a theatrical reading that moves between sacred and profane. The work continues Hemingway’s long-standing interest in confronting inherited iconography, drawing from references associated with Andy Warhol and Joel-Peter Witkin while retaining a contemporary visual language.
Born in the United States and based in London, Hemingway works across photography, film, and direction with a practice grounded in material methods and a current visual focus. Angels With Dirty Faces marks his first public exhibition in Paris in five years and his first solo presentation in the city. His imagery has appeared in international publications and campaigns for Chanel, Comme des Garçons, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, Mugler, and Acne Studios. Ongoing collaborations with FKA twigs have further shaped his profile as an image maker whose work remains sharply defined within contemporary culture.
Jordan Hemingway Angels with Dirty Faces
22 January – 15 March 2026
Acne Paper Palais Royal, 124 Galerie de Valois 75001 Paris
