A woman's world

Michel Haddi has captured some of the world’s most glamorous women, with a selection to be showcased in the Photo London exhibition

My images are all about women: strong women, their attitude, their beauty and the story they have to tell, what they represent in our society, and the empowerment of their own self-respect. Without them I would never have become the man I am; women taught me respect.

When the gallery 29 Arts In Progress looked at my work, they saw something that even I didn’t see; there is a continuity in my work and I was blind to it. What they saw was, perhaps, reflected in the adoration I have for women, and I suppose they saw the quintessential focal point of my work.

You see, an artist is not – and cannot be – the judge of his own work, while a third entity is able to go deeper and bring out the truth and talent of an artist. And 29 Arts In Progress has a real eye for this. What can I say – they have represented one of my idols since I was 20 years old, Gian Paolo Barbieri, so I knew that I couldn’t go too far wrong!