In her. collection Bordello, Speers has created edgy photos that play with seduction, sensuality and femininity. The romantic decadence of Paris nightlife in the 1920s and 30s - eternalized most famously, perhaps, by the photographs of Brassaï - comes to life afresh in this series of sensuous photos shot on location in former bordellos where the lavish decors have survived intact.

‘I referenced the 1920’s as my inspiration, which gave me a more poetic and nostalgic means to create the stylised imagery.  My interpretation is an idealistic and romantic view, but nevertheless engages the viewer to wander through the mind’s desires. I created my own interpretation from historical references and images and placed models in real ex-bordellos for the authentic and opulent décor.’  

Speers produces this series as Fresson carbon prints: a unique 19th century hand-worked technique using a charcoal process with a sumptuous painterly quality that lends itself ideally to both series.

Karl Lagerfeld wrote:

The twighlight of Vee Speers’ great photos of beautiful women causes the viewer to merge with the surroundings of the image and enter a kind of dream-like vision of an often sordid reality.  Shapes lose definition and imagination overweighs perception. Real life is left behind.. . . . the boundaries between subject and photographer become more and more indistinct. 

She shows beauty where beauty can be terribly absent.