THINK LOVE: Inez & Vinoodh Capture Joy in Paris

At Project Room #21 in Paris, architect, scenographer, and designer India Mahdavi unveils a moving new preview of “CAN LOVE BE A PHOTOGRAPH,” the forthcoming forty-year retrospective of the celebrated photographic duo Inez & Vinoodh. The presentation centers on THINK LOVE., a sensual and deeply introspective triptych created as part of “Joy, in 3 Parts,” and among the first photographic artworks captured using the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max. Showing from November 13 to December 12, 2025, the exhibition underscores Mahdavi’s dedication to bringing cultural dialogue to her Bellechasse neighborhood—and marks the first photography-focused installation within her acclaimed Project Room series. 

A New Chapter in a Four-Decade Creative Journey

For more than forty years, Inez & Vinoodh have pushed the boundaries of visual language, working fluidly between art and fashion while pioneering digital image manipulation in the early 1990s. Their signature blend of seduction, provocation, and emotional clarity made them leading voices in contemporary photography—equally at home in major museums and on the pages of the world’s most influential magazines. The preview at Project Room #21 offers a distilled look at their evolving practice ahead of the full retrospective opening March 20, 2026, at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag.

THINK LOVE. — An Image of Ecstasy and Introspection

At the heart of the presentation is THINK LOVE., a triptych created in Marfa, Texas, during the development of “Joy, in 3 Parts,” a multi-city exhibition curated by Kathy Ryan in collaboration with Apple. The central panel portrays artists Charles Matadin and Natalie Brumley locked in a rapturous kiss beneath a sheer red veil—an homage to Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss. Denim meets lace, masculine meets feminine, and behind them, a desert road and mountain vista suggest a path toward an imagined paradise. The photograph captures a moment of ecstatic merging while simultaneously turning inward, highlighting the emotional depth of intimate connection. 

“For more than forty years, Inez & Vinoodh have pushed the boundaries of visual language,”

These images were created using early-access technology—the iPhone 17 Pro Max camera—allowing the artists to work with exceptional immediacy and finesse. As Inez & Vinoodh note, the device’s intimacy has become a “game-changer,” enabling the spontaneous, improvisational exchanges that define their process. Apple’s intention was to offer artists creative freedom outside commercial constraints, and the resulting images demonstrate the expressive possibilities of a tool billions carry in their pockets.

India Mahdavi’s Project Room: A Space for Cultural Exchange

Situated on Rue de Bellechasse, Project Room is Mahdavi’s ongoing platform for experimentation—a site dedicated to free expression, interdisciplinary collaboration, and rotating installations aligned with Paris’s cultural calendar. For Paris Photo 2025, she welcomes Inez & Vinoodh as the first photographers to inhabit the space with a full exhibition.

Project Room is designed to renew four times a year and is always free to the public, reflecting Mahdavi’s belief in art as a shared cultural resource. THINK LOVE. resonates with the mood of compassion, dialogue, and emotional bonding that shapes the Project Room ethos.

“Joy, in 3 Parts” — A Prelude to the Retrospective

THINK LOVE. was originally commissioned for “Joy, in 3 Parts,” which was unveiled in New York and Shanghai in September 2025, with an additional invitation-only presentation in London. Alongside works by Mickalene Thomas and Trunk Xu, the exhibition asked artists to respond to a single prompt: joy.

“THINK LOVE. resonates with the mood of compassion, dialogue, and emotional bonding that shapes the Project Room ethos,”

Ryan, the long-standing director of photography at The New York Times Magazine, guided each collaboration with sensitivity and an eye for emotional nuance. Her curatorial vision helped reveal joy’s many expressions—the tenderness of young love, the lightness of belonging, and the glittering moments within daily life.

Toward “CAN LOVE BE A PHOTOGRAPH”

As a preview, Project Room #21 offers an immersive hint of what the full retrospective promises: an sweeping look at four decades of image-making that have shaped both visual culture and the way audiences understand intimacy, identity, and the digital image. With THINK LOVE., Inez & Vinoodh highlight the emotional potential of contemporary tools and the power of photography—whether shot on film, high-end cameras, or an iPhone—to rediscover the fragile, magical moments that make us human.