Benjamin Alexander Huseby in Paris

Since he graduated from London’s Chelsea College of Art in 2000, Benjamin Alexander Huseby has spread his photographic net wide, shooting for a long list of international publications including Fantastic Man, i-D, Vogue, Acne Paper and Harpers Bazaar, as well as directing a 2007 music video for Von Südenfed (a collaboration between The Fall’s Mark E. Smith and electronic wizards Mouse on Mars). What often characterizes his editorial work—aside from his penchant for hazy, pastel tones—is a playful choice of location: in recent spreads he’s taken the latest looks from Celine to a greasy-spoon café, shot flesh-toned menswear on a nudist beach and installed models in lush greenhouses for some glam gardening. But his personal art photography reveals a more intimate approach. “Doing  fashion work is always a group effort, with a very specific purpose,” he says. “When I work on my art it’s completely free, apart from the collaboration with the people I photograph.” In his latest exhibition, which opens today at Don’t Projects in Paris, Huseby has collected images of performers off-guard or in rehearsal. His subjects include longtime friends, such as irreverent drag stars Jonny Woo and James/Jeanette Main, singers Baby Dee and Nils Bech, and new pal “Nadja”—a performance artist that Huseby recently came across in his current hometown of Berlin. To mark the end of the exhibition, a theatrical display from show stars Jeanette and Jonny Woo will unfold outside the gallery. “It’s not drag cabaret,” Huseby clarifies, “more ‘street theatre.’ It’s an area of performance in which there’s a lot of room for improvement !”