We speak to the decorated fashion photographer Ewa-Mari Johansson about her new Stockholm exhibition Supermodels backstage — hidden in the dark, which shines a light on the glamourous, and torment, life of a model. WORDS: ERIK SEDIN, PHOTOGRAPHY: EWA-MARI JOHANSSON

Veteran fashion photographer Ewa-Mari Johansson is exhibiting her star-studded catalogue at Sergelgatans Konsthall in Stockholm, highlighting her best snaps among the chaos and community of the fashion runway backstage. But among all the glamour, Johansson shares a hair-raising recreation of an assault by a man in the fashion industry.

PLEASE WALK US THROUGH THIS EXHIBITION’S MAIN THEME, WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

“We’ve all seen the models come out walking on the catwalk, and the millions of photographers outside and the flashes going off. I wanted to show what was happening behind the catwalk, and when I started, there weren’t any backstage photographers. I was one of the first to do this. The backstage area is like that of a theatre, where you have to organize everything beforehand because you can’t go for a second take, like when making a film. The models have to have it right.”

AND YOU OBVIOUSLY KNOW YOUR WAY AROUND FASHION SHOWS AND SHOOTS, HAVING BEEN A MODEL YOURSELF. HOW IS LIFE BACKSTAGE?

“The day usually starts off quite slow, everyone comes in in the morning for some coffee and something to eat. And then slowly but surely, the energy picks up. It’s like there’s electricity in the air. As the show gets closer, this electric feeling fills up the room, from the models, make-up artists, photographers, stylists and so on.

“It’s a very intimate situation to be backstage because you are so close to everyone, but everyone is doing their individual job. It feels like a family in a way, because of the intimacy but also the trust that everyone has for each other. I think this exhibition shows this, it’s pictures from close to a decade backstage.

Homage to Sophia Loren, Pia Lind, 1991 All artworks from the exhibition and selected works from the Picture This collection are available for purchase.

A WHOLE DECADE'S WORTH OF PHOTOGRAPHS — WHAT DID THE SELECTION PROCESS LOOK LIKE?

“You have to kill your darlings, obviously. I have so many great pictures of Danish model Helena Christensen, for example, but I couldn’t use them all. One of my favourite ones is when she gets her makeup done by a makeup artist, but since it was quite hard to see if it was her own hand or the makeup artist’s, I went with one that was a bit clearer that it was just her.

So, you have to eliminate some of your darlings so you have a broader view of everything, there are other photographs with a lot of people and movement to balance.”

WHAT’S THE STORY OF THE KATE MOSS PORTRAIT?

“For this very photograph, I photographed backstage for the Swedish magazine Månadsjournalen. I was in Paris in the summer of 1995 to photograph Karl Lagerfeld at his Haute Couture show for Chanel. Moss was one of the runway models for the show. She came in in the morning and she just sat down, before makeup and styling. She was relaxed and was laughing a lot, so I just ran over to take a picture. She was so open and sweet for me to photograph her. All of the models were open and nice to me.”

Kate Moss,1995 All artworks from the exhibition and selected works from the Picture This collection are available for purchase.

THIS EXHIBITION ALSO FEATURES A SET OF VERY PERSONAL AND RAW PHOTOGRAPHS THAT TELL A DIFFERENT STORY OF THE FASHION WORLD.

“Yes, it’s from a photo series I named If you say something I kill you. It’s a reenactment from when I got raped in a Parisian hotel room as a 16-year-old model. A man had spotted me at a café and followed me back to my hotel, somehow he found out my room number and knocked on my door. When I asked who it was, he said ’Oh, it's the reception. We forgot to give you a message.’ When I opened the door I recognised him from the café, so I tried to close the door, but he quickly put his foot in the door. He obviously had done this before because he was very prepared. He put his hand on my face first, so even if I tried to scream I couldn’t, but I don’t think I could’ve since I was so shocked.”

“After he was done, he called himself the name of another photographer in the fashion business and said that if I ever told anyone he would find me and kill me. Even though he lied about who he was, he was still involved in my line of work and I would see him sometimes. He was together with a Danish model that I worked a lot with, and sometimes he stood outside studios waiting for her. My heart would beat like crazy and I would jump on any bus or any taxi just to get away from them.”

"We can’t talk enough about the subject of men’s violence against women, but I think when you also show photos like this, I think it becomes rather strong."

HOW DID YOU DO THE REENACTMENT?

“I went back to the hotel and it was exactly the same as when I was 16. They hadn’t changed the wallpaper, they hadn’t changed anything. So I went there with a friend later on to do the story again. And if she hadn't been there with me, I couldn't have shot the pictures, I was nearly crying and shaking. And I asked an old friend if he could come and reenact this scene with us. He thought it was really terrible to have to do it. But as he worked with theatre and movies he had experience as an actor.

“We can’t talk enough about the subject of men’s violence against women, but I think when you also show photos like this, I think it becomes rather strong. These photos can maybe help anyone who sees them to talk about their story. I kept these photos in a drawer for ten years before I showed them for the first time.”

FROM BEING IN THE INDUSTRY FOR SO LONG, HAVE YOU SEEN CHANGES IN RIGHTS, SAFETY, AND WORKING CONDITIONS FOR MODELS?

“It’s always changing for the better, but it's going very slowly I think. But I would definitely say it’s a much more respected line of work now — a totally different view than it was once upon a time. Even though I was treated with respect in the seventies, I can only imagine that things are much better now.”

Stella Tennant, 1997 - Backstage DKNY Donna Karan Show All artworks from the exhibition and selected works from the Picture This collection are available for purchase.