French artist Ann Ray first met British fashion designer Alexander McQueen – or Lee McQueen, as he was affectionately known to his friends, family and lovers – in late 1996 when he had just been appointed artistic director of Givenchy and was at the height of his powers. They would remain friends until his tragic death in London in 2010, and over those 13 years she would take more than 35,000 analogue photographs of Lee and his world, from his everyday life, to his backstage preparations, to his spectacular runway shows for Givenchy and for his own label. Now she has curated an exhibition of her favourite pictures from her archive for the renowned Rencontres d’Arles photography festival in the South of France. ‘Photography,’ says Ray comfortingly, ‘apparently deals with death, but my photographs don’t deal with death at all, just the opposite. They deal with life, and the celebration of life.’

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Rencontres d’Arles