Polaroid Archives by Leeds and YFIF Exhibit in Monterrey

Two distinct Polaroid archives, independently built over decades by Phillip Leeds and Venezuelan artist Your Favorite Internet Friend (YFIF), are now exhibited together for the first time in Monterrey, Mexico, at the Colector gallery. The exhibition, titled ‘Folie à Deux’, showcases the artists' parallel journeys in documenting cultural figures through the lens of a Polaroid Big Shot camera. Phillip Leeds has spent over two decades capturing portraits of individuals prominent in music, fashion, and art, with his archive originating in New York and expanding globally. Concurrently, YFIF has cultivated a similar archive, focusing on musicians, athletes, and artists from within the cultural scenes of Venezuela and Latin America. The exhibition features a diverse array of notable figures, including Young Miko, Mac Miller, JAY-Z, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams, Virgil Abloh, Naomi Campbell, SZA, Tyler, the Creator, Takashi Murakami, and Daddy Yankee. These portraits collectively offer a broad cultural record, illustrating the scenes and eras that Leeds and YFIF have inhabited and documented. A significant shared element between the two artists is their choice of the Polaroid Big Shot camera, a fixed-focus portrait camera introduced in 1971 and famously utilized by Andy Warhol. This shared tool underscores their parallel artistic approaches. Furthermore, both artists adhere to a strict rule: the Polaroid print is the definitive and final object, with no negatives, second versions, or endless reproductions permitted. This principle emphasizes the singularity of each image and the necessity of a physical, in-person encounter between the photographer and the subject. This approach holds particular resonance in the current digital age, where images can be instantly copied, altered, or generated. Every photograph presented in ‘Folie à Deux’ represents a moment where two individuals were physically present at the same time. The exhibition's title, ‘Folie à Deux’, typically refers to a shared delusion, but here it is recontextualized to describe a shared passion or obsession that developed independently. The exhibition highlights how sustained photographic practice, when pursued with dedication, can create an archive that narrates the story of an era. The exhibition further emphasizes this thematic connection when Leeds and YFIF turn their cameras on each other, with one artist signing the back of the other's Polaroid print, creating a reciprocal documentation of their shared artistic endeavor and the exhibition itself.