Leigh Bowery

Leigh Bowery (1961–94) used performance to explore questions around the politics of the body, and its use as both material and a site of transformation. He was also fascinated by the subversive potential of costume as sculpture.Originally published to accompany a major exhibition, and now reissued as a revised edition, Leigh Bowery features over two hundred images by and of the artist — spanning an eclectic and dynamic career and including fashion photography, club polaroids, film stills, paintings, postcards, and ephemera. In addition to Bowery’s own works, the book also includes paintings of the artist by Lucian Freud, and works made with and about Bowery by Stephen Willats and Trojan Barnes, among others. A visual inventory of all of Bowery’s costumes, held by the artist’s estate, has been newly photographed — published here for the first time.