That’s a wrap on Hungry Eye Fair and my first art show ✨
So grateful to have shared Backstories my work, my world with you all. 8 large works + my first book out in the world. A story told through the female body, memories & daydreams.
Thank you to everyone who came by, flipped through the book, or simply stopped to talk 🖤 It means more than I can say (or write). And the most surreal part, three works found new homes!!
Endless thanks to my dear friends and family for always being there. Grateful as well to @roy_kahmann@anna.savoaia and the entire Hungry Eye team for making this possible, and to @deniseartbusiness for her guidance these past months.
Opening night captured by @by.rees 📸
3rd slide by @shesinfocus_
Hair by @melchijah #HungryEyeFair #Backstories
Crazy to think I drew the logo only two months ago and now @dryyourtearsclub is almost ready to be shared with the world!
Wanna be first in line?
Sign up to unlock.
See ya there. ─⋆˚✿˖°
dryyourtearsclub.com
Photos by @maartje
& Thank you dearest people from the internet for being part of this from the start.
🎀🧸🦋 Last Friday, I organized the official Backstories launch party, and I wish I could’ve stopped time—it went by in seconds! This is just part 1 of the gallery, but I wanted to take a moment to share something extra.
When I started working on Backstories, I could’ve never imagined what it would become. The story kind of revealed itself along the way – through the shoots, deep dives into my diaries, and piecing everything together. It wasn’t always easy, but it was incredibly rewarding.
This journey was about staying close to home and, more importantly, close to myself. What began as something personal, just for me, transformed into a way to inspire others to embrace their true selves.
It’s about shyness, fear of rejection, and ultimately finding your own path. Backstories is not just one thing – it’s raw and intimate yet playful and light. It’s not as deep as you might think.
We all want to be seen and liked, and that’s terrifying. But if you keep hiding under layers of fur, you’ll never feel truly free.
Thanks for being part of this crazy ride with me. I hope Backstories gives you that little nudge to embrace your story and feel free to just be yourself. You do you always.
Love, A
Photos by @alexheuvink
10 years ago, we stepped into Guangdong for the first time.
Since then, we’ve been inside the system — building between brands and factories.
Now we’re going back.
100 factories. 30 days.
From the ground, not from a distance.
Follow the journey.
#100F30D #Manufacturing #TomorrowsCulture
UNFOLDING 舒展
Creative director and Photographer: Alaïa Fonk @alaaaia
Model:
Alice Marie @alicee.brr
Art Department:
Gem Fernández Zapateiro @gem.fz
Hair:
Guillem Diaz @guillemdiazhair
Makeup:
Debora Saphira @deborasaphira
Production Assist:
Sima, Father of Alaïa & Chris @simaxmar
Transparent Skirt:
Shilen Mujcic @shilengami
Nails:
Natalya Clements @naildbynmc
Artist Statement:
Anna Savoia anna.savoaia
Looking back at last weekend at @nocknock.art , and where I was this time last year, feels a little surreal.
A year ago I wasn’t sure how photography would continue for me. What is now Unfolding started as fragments. Small ideas, sketches, loose thoughts that didn’t yet fully make sense.
Then, all of a sudden, the pieces fell together. Within two months the project took shape.
The work shifted from impulsive beach shoots to more intentional, conceptual shoots, where I began building worlds around the images and stepping further into the role of creative director.
Seeing the work leave my mind and exist in a space like an art fair makes that unfolding feel very real. And in many ways it still feels like it’s just beginning.
Forever a fairy princess, but step by step finding my place in the world of human beings. 🧚🏽♀️🤍
Next show: March 25-29 at Haute Photographie, Rotterdam
— & a BIG THANK YOU to all who collaborated on this project. Couldn’t have done it without you all!
Photos by the best @by.rees
Meet the artist of Haute Photographie: Alaïa Fonk ✨
Creative director and photographer Alaïa Fonk creates images where reality gently slips into fantasy. Raised while traveling the world, she grew up surrounded by studios, magazines, and photography books by icons like Peter Lindbergh, Helmut Newton, and David Bailey, early influences that shaped her visual language.
Inspired by image-makers such as Ellen von Unwerth and Nadia Lee Cohen, Fonk constructs cinematic, atmospheric worlds where the female body often takes center stage. Her images feel intimate, playful, and layered, inviting the viewer into scenes that are both delicate and mysterious.
At Haute Photographie, she presents her series “Unfolding,” a body of work that explores beauty, presence, and transformation through carefully crafted visual narratives.
💡Discover Unfolding by Alaïa Fonk at Haute Photographie, 25–29 March 📍 Keilepand, Rotterdam 🎟 Tickets via link in bio
#ArtistSpotlight #AlaiaFonk #Unfolding #HautePhotographie #RotterdamArtWeek
Quick winter dump 🫶🏼🧝🏼♀️
- printing the unfolding prints
- daily Jack & Freddy walks
- unfolding print pickups
- my fav place
- two days work in Paris
- bts at unfolding shoot
- unfolding at the framer
- unpacking unfolding merch
- set the table for my best friends engagement
- stuff stuff
- working on an exciting new merch project
With love, always,
A
UNFOLDING 舒展
on a Thursday night.
For the upcoming fairs (34 days till opening, omg) I wanted to do something else - paper and framing wise. I needed some more texture and depth so started to randomly walk into my main sources of inspirations and to test if it would all unfold, or fold, how I imagined. And it does, until now 🤍
Follow the story on my Substack, stay tuned for the merch and (!!) come visit me at the fair!
With love, always,
Alaïa
