Beard [SERIES], 2015
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Artist profile
Brock Elbank
Brock Elbank started his career in advertising. His photograph of an arm plaster cast tattooed with “ONE DOWN – 205 BONES TO GO” was part of an award-winning Snickers campaign. A subsequent move to fashion photography revealed a talent for more considered portraiture.
Elbank’s portraits focus on particular features that unite a cross-section of people while simultaneously revealing their individuality. His most well-known work on Beards has become the visual anchor for Beard Season, the highly successful campaign for skin cancer prevention. Elbank developed the concept of #Project60 for Beard Season, which he has since developed and distilled into Beard.
A stream of hirsute models followed including the actor John Hurt, Harnaam Kaur (whose polycystic ovaries have caused facial hair growth) and Italian designer Angelo Gallemini. In 2015 Elbank’s portraits of 80 bearded people were exhibited at Somerset House, London. His following series of work gives centre stage to people with freckles; a feature often unpopular with those who have them but whose beauty is revealed through Elbank’s lens.