October’s most-loved photo stories in the art and photography section feature multiple perspectives on New York City. Ryan McGinley’s exhibition All About Alana brings together over 30 image-makers, each offering a portrait of It Girl Alana Jessica Martin. Harking back to a Warhol-era of larger-than-life muses, every contributor presents a different vision of the charismatic actress, model and musician. Slava Mogutin revisits the world of the city’s male erotic dancers in NYC Go Go 2.0. We also took you inside the latest edition of Please Knock, the erotic art fair held earlier this month in Queens, to take a peek at the crowd and some of the extraordinary art and ephemera on sale.
Meanwhile, Chanel Victor’s pictures of the latest protest in Paris capture the city’s shifting mood, and young photographer Ambroise Degenne shares images from his debut photo book, Chunky Milk, which captures the experience of growing up in Paris. No night is long enough for us to dream twice, a new exhibition on show at AGWA, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, presents a nuanced vision of life in the SWANA region – resisting the usual narratives in favour of something messier and more akin to the day-to-day experience of life. As co-curator Dalia Al-Dujaili told Dazed, the exhibition acknowledges the region’s histories of “protest, violence, rupture, suppression while making space for nuance and complexity.”
Below, dive into some of this month’s most captivating photo series.
Stanley Stellar, Don’t Worry Boys
Gallery / 15 images
Drawn to the West Village in the 1970s for its permissive atmosphere, Stanley Stellar documented the areas around Christopher Street and the crumbling Hudson Piers. “It was a total sexual world down there, a kind of gay playland,” he told Dazed in a recent interview. “But it wasn’t all cruising – it became a way for us to know each other, a way for us to meet and see each other, out in the open, for the first time.” Don’t Worry Boys brings together his “affectionate and beautiful” photographs from the time.
Read the full story here on Dazed.
Ambroise Degenne, Chunky Milk (2026)
Gallery / 18 images
Ambroise Degenne grew up in Paris overlooking a train line with graffiti-covered trains continually passing his windows. Inspired by what he saw as a rebellious and democratic art form, he became immersed in the city’s underground graffiti subculture. His debut photo book, Chunky Milk, documents his life between 2025 and early 2026, and has the haphazard rhythm of the young flanneur. “I don’t really plan out my days, so I never quite know who I’ll see or where I’ll go,” Degenne told Dazed in a recent interview. “I like being able to photograph those unexpected moments.”
Read the full story here on Dazed.
No night is long enough for us to dream twice
Gallery / 39 images
Taking its name from A Raven’s Ink by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, this group show brings together powerful photography by nine artists from Southwest Asia, North Africa and their diasporas. As co-curator Dalia Al-Dujaili told Dazed, the exhibition acknowledges the region’s histories of “protest, violence, rupture, suppression while making space for nuance and complexity”. This configuration of images seeks to open up a messier and broader perspective on the day-to-day experience of life.
Read the full story here on Dazed.
Slava Mogutin, NYC GO-GO 2.0
Gallery / 24 images
20 years after he first began photographing New York’s Go-Go boys, Slava Mogutin’s time capsule pictures of the city’s erotic male dancers are revisited in an exhibition and accompanying book. Less about the performances and more about the surrounding subculture, Mogutin’s photographs depict the dancers backstage as well as on stages and podiums. “The stage creates a character, but it doesn’t erase the person,” he told Dazed. “I wasn’t interested in manufacturing some behind-the-scenes fairy tale. The reality was often funnier, messier, more mundane and more revealing than anything happening under the lights.”
Read the full story here on Dazed.
All About Alana
Gallery / 25 images
Curated by Ryan McGinley, who invited over 30 photographers to take a portrait of New York actress, model, musician and muse, Alana Jessica Martin, this exhibition features work by the likes of Quil Lemons, Daniel Arnold, Luisa Opalesky and more. “This show is a celebration of New York City’s newest, finest, blondest It Girl,” writes McGinley. “Walking through the space feels like browsing Andy Warhol’s Factory: a Candy Darling film strip plastered on the wall. It’s a wonderful callback to the muses who have inspired masterpieces – Cookie Mueller, Connie Girl, Edie Sedgwick. The work shows someone on the cusp of greatness, with the charisma to keep you watching. Alana Jessica Martin is it.”
Read the full story here on Dazed.
Paris Protests by Chanel Victor
Gallery / 26 images
For weeks, people across France have taken to the streets to protest for better living conditions, educational reforms and an end to the cost-of-living crisis. Last weekend (October 24), photographer Chanel Victor joined the thousands of protesters in Paris. “At first, it was very peaceful,” she told Dazed. “People were celebrating, singing and standing together. It felt almost like spending a day with a huge family.” She documented the scene on colour film as an all-ages crowd marched for a brighter future. “A lot of it felt like it was for the youth, for their future and the future of France,” she says. As the day progressed, the atmosphere changed somewhat. Victor switched to black-and-white film as police responded with force as protesters “threw stones and glass”. “The colour images reflect the joy, the life, and the collective energy of the day,” she explained. “The black-and-white images speak to something darker: the tension, the violence, and how the atmosphere changed toward the end.”
Read the full story here on Dazed.
Please Knock’s Erotic Art Fair
Gallery / 17 images
Earlier this month, TV Eye, the punk venue in Queens, New York, hosted Please Knock’s fourth annual Erotic Art Fair. Founded by curator Danna Wexler, the fair was conceived and created as a physical space for artists and dealers who face restrictions when digitally promoting and selling their work. Photographers Alessandra Schade and Leo Brooklyn captured the atmosphere, the clientele and the incredible smutty artworks and ephemera for sale.
Read the full story here on Dazed.
