Love Letters to the Muse

«From the beginning of my journey with photography I have always been driven by who the Woman in my image is. Where does she come from? Where does she want to go? Who does she love? How does she love? What drives her? How does she imagine herself in the world? How does she become the imagination of herself? I first ask these questions of myself then project them out into the story I am trying to tell or the emotion I am hoping to convey. The intention is to inspire the viewer to open their mind and dream with me», explains the Australian photographer who shoot the 49th edition of The Cal in three days of intense work in New York in June followed by a day in London in July.

«I noted Emma Summerton’s work because her pictures represent a dreamlike and magical world, very rich in colour and imaginativeness. And as we live in a time when the "real" and the "unreal" meet with ever greater frequency, she seemed the perfect artist to interpret this moment and at the same time make a great contribution to the heritage of the Pirelli Calendar» states Mr. Marco Tronchetti Provera, Pirelli Executive Vice Chairman and Ceo.

Summerton is only the fifth woman to shoot the calendar (Sarah Moon was the first in 1972, followed by Joyce Tenneson in 1989; Ines van Lamsweerde, along with her husband, Vinoodh Matadin, in 2007; and Annie Leibovitz twice, first in 2000 and then 2016). Her vision was to celebrate each model as a muse, based not just on her appearance but her purpose, her personal story.