Photograph of the Month - February 2009

Jourdan Dunn b.1990
by Alasdair McLellan (b.1974)
Digital C-type print
© Alasdair McLellan

Since June 2007 the National Portrait Gallery has highlighted a recently acquired and previously unseen photographic portrait to coincide with a current event, anniversary or a display elsewhere in the Gallery.

English model Jourdan Dunn was discovered in the Hammersmith branch of Primark and signed to Storm Models in 2006. Since then she has featured in campaigns for Benetton, Gap and Topshop. Dunn has featured in numerous magazines, notably Vogue, Dazed & Confused, Pop and i-D. She appeared on the cover of Vogue Italia’s ‘Black Issue’, photographed entirely by Steven Meisel, in July 2008. In February that year, she became the first black model in a decade to appear on the catwalk for Prada. Dunn won the British Fashion Council’s award for Model of the Year in November 2008.

British photographer Alasdair McLellan’s work has appeared in Self Service, Another Magazine, Pop, Vogue and i-D. McLellan photographed the entire November 2008 issue of i-D including this portrait. It marks a milestone in his long relationship with the magazine. His first story for them taken in 1996 was included in the V&A’s Imperfect Beauty exhibition (2000). Given by the photographer, 2009

Previous Photographs of the Month