Marc Vallée is a London-based documentary photographer whose self-published zines and photobooks are held in the collections of Tate Britain, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Museum of London and other world-renowned institutions. It is no small thing to please photographers who are looking to reproduce their own work, so we are humbled that Marc Vallée has been a longstanding client of the LEAP Print and Promotions team. His latest publication, 90s Archive: Volume One is our thirteenth print production project for Marc.
Most of the earlier work we printed for Marc was black-and-white and A5 size, but when he discovered a box of prints in his studio dating back to work shot in London in 1996 and 1998, he was inspired to collate the images into a photobook styled as an homage to the 10 x 8 print. 90s Archive: Volume One includes studied colour and black-and-white portraits of friends from the Cass School of Art as well as the indie and alternative queer club scene. The British Journal of Photography describes the collection as not only autobiographical of Vallée’s life in 90s London but also remarkable for their
wider historical and political significance, capturing queer youth as the gay community slowly emerged from the horror of the 80s and early-90s global Aids epidemic, Margaret Thatcher and clause 28 which was in effect until 2003.
As for every client, our print experts give each stage of production its due time and attention to ensure a perfect result, but it was especially gratifying to hear Marc say he was “blown away” when he saw the full colour proofs at our Woolwich printworks. Marc Vallée’s 90s Archive: Volume One is published by Marc Vallée as a first edition of 400 photobooks comprising 36 pages, 20cm x 25cm, printed and two wire saddle stitching bound by LEAP. It is printed on FSC certified paper stock which is chlorine free.
The British Journal of Photography delivered praise in their review stating,
The simple photobook allows the photographs to breath, their rich, formal qualities and multi-layered meanings given space to unfold.
Marc Vallée’s 90s Archive: Volume One launched as a special event with a book signing and talk with photographer/photobook maker/curator Matt Martin at The Photographers’ Gallery.
We look forward to working with Marc Vallée on future volumes of his 90s archive as well as new zines and collections. 90s Archive: Volume One is available to purchase on Marc Vallée’s website as well as at Tate Modern and The Photographers’ Gallery.
Find out more about LEAP’s print production services for photographers, artists and galleries including Tate.