Fresh on the heels of a highly-anticipated Yohji Yamamoto collaboration landing in stores last week, Supreme is revealing a new artist collaboration for Fall/Winter 2020, partnering with photographer Joel-Peter Witkin.

Born in Brooklyn in 1939, Witkin is known for his affinity for those on the margins and outcast from society, often photographing deformed figures, dismembered limbs and even cadavers. This penchant for documenting the darker side of life was heavily influenced by Witkins own childhood trauma, witnessing a car accident that resulting the decapitation of a young girl. Building his portfolio photographing “freak show” acts on Coney Island in the 1950s, and photographing the grueling conditions of the Vietnam War in the 1960s, Witkin became the photographer for “City Walls, NYC”—an organization that created murals throughout NYC. After studying sculpting at Cooper Union and receiving a poetry fellowship from Columbia University in the early-1970s, Witkin moved to New Mexico in 1976. Achieving a Masters of Fine Arts in photography from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, Witkin put down roots; the photographer currently lives and works in Albuquerque to this day.

Aside from his macabre subject matters, Witkin is also identified for his rough style, incorporating Caravaggio-like Chiaroscuro high contrast and scratched or pierced film negatives. This is all in service of, as Supreme explains, to “challenge the viewers’ perceptions of beauty” and as Witkin explained, “reflect the insanity of life.”

The Supreme collection features three of Witkins works: Mother and Child (With Retractor, Screaming) (featured on a T-shirt), Harvest (on a long sleeve tee) and Sanitarium (which appears on the collection’s hoodie).

Look out for this release on September 24, with the collection arriving in Japan on September 26. Keep an eye on Grailed’s Hype marketplace after the drop to shop the sure-to-be-sold-out release.

Tags: joel-peter-witkin, photography, supreme