Daniel Gurton Captures Song for the Mute’s '22.1 Avenue D’Ivry' collection

by SHOWstudio on 1 June 2022

How do you capture a sense of nostalgia and belonging with one single photograph? Daniel Gurton's latest campaign for Song for the Mute has the answer.

How do you capture a sense of nostalgia and belonging with one single photograph? Daniel Gurton's latest campaign for Song for the Mute has the answer.

Imbued with nostalgia, the Australian brand's co-founder and creative director Lyna Ty looked to the Paris tower block she grew up in to inform her latest collection - one that's just as sentimental as it was sincere. Focusing all her energy on the many years spent in Les Olympiades, Paris, while growing up, she's decided to tap fellow Australian Daniel Gurton to capture the collection in all its loving glory.

Song for the Mute by Daniel Gurton

Speaking on his own hopes for the campaign, Gurton revealed, 'We wanted to capture the neighbourhood and sense of community that Lyna remembered from her childhood. And although in some ways the area has changed dramatically, in others it's much the same: an urban landscape that brings individuals together, a backdrop for their interactions and daily routines.'

Although the people photographed for the campaign are not those who Ty actually grew up with (or even had in mind when designing), it was still integral for the pair to capture the generation that now lives there. Although in some ways, the campaign brought about many obvious changes witnessed by Ty, codes of familiarity are also embedded into the area - apartments are the same, and even if the faces differ, an uncannily similar expression remains, mirroring the years Ty longed to recreate through the campaign itself.

In Gurton's detailed portraits, residents wear pieces from the collection that they've chosen themselves, adding another layer of honesty that brings the campaign 360. The images are reproduced in a tabloid newspaper designed by 21–87, which brings together an ensemble cast including Mounir, an actor-comedian who grew up in the area; Benoit, who has been a resident since the development was built in 1974; and young artist Lea, a recent arrival drawn to the area by her own familial memories.

Song for the Mute by Daniel Gurton

Ty's fond memories were also made clear in a press statement, with the Song for the Mute designer admitting, 'I remember peeking through concrete modernist windows into the other-worldly interiors of neighbours' apartments. Through these small but many windows, you could read the story of these different individuals—the life of Les Olympiades.'

As well as the intimately-lensed photo essay, a series of short films, also directed by Gurton - and inspired by French national broadcaster ORTF's documentaries of the 70s and 80s - sees each resident discussing what Les Olympiades means to them. 21–87 has also designed a series of temporary retail installations featuring life-size reproductions of Gurton's photography.

Proclaiming itself as an ode to the area around Avenue D'Ivry and the brutalist Les Olympiades housing development in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, the Gurton-lensed campaign not only successfully captures childhood nostalgia but also the development's current community - merging the past with the present in the name of fashion, family and familiarity.

Song for the Mute by Daniel Gurton

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