The Pirelli 2018 Calendar by Tim Walker was presented at the Manhattan Center in New York. For the 45th Calendar edition, shot in London last May, the British photographer applied his unmistakable style of extravagant sets and romantic motifs, to revisit one of the classic stories of British literature: “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland “. His inspiration came not only from Lewis Carroll’s fantastic story, but most importantly from the illustrations that Carroll himself had entrusted to John Tenniel for the first edition of 1865. In Tim Walker’s 2018 Pirelli Calendar they become 28 shots consisting of 20 different and extraordinary sets for a new unique Wonderland.
”Alice has been told so many times”, Tim Walker said, “and I think I wanted to go back to the genesis of the imagination behind Lewis Carroll so that you could tell it from the very beginning again. I wanted to find a different and original angle.”
In order to convey his idea of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland , Walker has portrayed a cast of 18 personalities, both established and upcoming, including musicians, actors, models, and political activists. It features Sudanese-Australian model Adut Akech, Ghanaian-British fashion model and feminist activist Adwoa Aboah, Senegalese-German model Alpha Dia, Beninese-American actor and model Djimon Hounsou, South Sudanese-Australian model Duckie Thot, Gambian women’s rights activist Jaha Dukureh, British model King Owusu, American rapper and singer Lil Yachty, Mexican-Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o, British supermodel and actress Naomi Campbell, American actor, television personality and singer/songwriter RuPaul, American actress Sasha Lane, American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, record producer and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs, American model Slick Woods, South African model and lawyer Thando Hopa, American actress, comedian, author and television host Whoopi Goldberg, British model Wilson Oryema and British fashion stylist, designer and singer Zoe Bedeaux.
All together they form an all-black cast, for the second time after the 1987 Pirelli Calendar in which British photographer Terence Donovan shot five beautiful black women, including a then sixteen-year-old Naomi Campbell and model, writer and activist Waris Dirie.
What goes on behind the scenes, the photo shoots, the stories and personalities of the 2018 Pirelli Calendar can be all found on the dedicated website, www.pirellicalendar.com, where visitors can explore the history of more than 50 years of The Cal™ through films, interviews, photographs and previously unpublished texts.
