Every week Richard Kern invites us to his L.E.S. apartment where we go through a huge box of archival photographs from his long and checkered career. Today's featured model is Dan, a Spaniard Richard shot in Mexico City.VICE: What's her name?
Richard: I call her Dan.Is she Italian?
She is Spanish. This was in Mexico City, 2005.Was this for Shot by Kern?
No, this was before that. It was the first time I went down to Mexico City. I had a show down there and while I was there this photographer named Napoleon who takes a lot of naked photos hooked me up with a ton of really cute girls. I don’t know what she does, but she doesn’t look—I was like, how can this kind of freckly, pale girl who looks like she’s from England be…She looks more Italian, I think. She’s Spanish though, right?
Yeah. There are all these girls who are from Spain, and this is what they look like.Mexico’s traditionally Catholic, isn’t it?
Yes.Do you find that the girls in that country are more religious than girls in other places?
Well, everyone said it was going to be impossible to find models in Mexico because everyone’s so religious. But I went down there and found a whole group of people who were completely willing to model. Like, really good models. I don’t think it had as much to do with religion as it had to do with what class they came from. From what I could tell, in Mexico City there are very rich people and then there are very poor people. There’s not much in between. The people in the upper class are all very well-educated and open to all kinds of stuff like this.INTERVIEW BY ANDY CAPPER
Richard: I call her Dan.Is she Italian?
She is Spanish. This was in Mexico City, 2005.Was this for Shot by Kern?
No, this was before that. It was the first time I went down to Mexico City. I had a show down there and while I was there this photographer named Napoleon who takes a lot of naked photos hooked me up with a ton of really cute girls. I don’t know what she does, but she doesn’t look—I was like, how can this kind of freckly, pale girl who looks like she’s from England be…She looks more Italian, I think. She’s Spanish though, right?
Yeah. There are all these girls who are from Spain, and this is what they look like.Mexico’s traditionally Catholic, isn’t it?
Yes.Do you find that the girls in that country are more religious than girls in other places?
Well, everyone said it was going to be impossible to find models in Mexico because everyone’s so religious. But I went down there and found a whole group of people who were completely willing to model. Like, really good models. I don’t think it had as much to do with religion as it had to do with what class they came from. From what I could tell, in Mexico City there are very rich people and then there are very poor people. There’s not much in between. The people in the upper class are all very well-educated and open to all kinds of stuff like this.INTERVIEW BY ANDY CAPPER