MORVAN, Yan. Gang.

(Paris): Marval, 2000. First edition. Quarto. 176 pages. The precursor to the photographer’s controversial volume ‘Gangs Story’ which was withdrawn from publication for including (as does this volume) a photograph of “Petit Mathieu”, a 17-year-old far-right activist who posed with a flare gun and a hammer – two weapons that were not outlawed in France at the time. The subject sued the publisher claiming that the photograph didn’t represent his current beliefs and that he should own the rights to his own image. The right to control your own image, was introduced by French minister Elisabeth Guigou in 2000. The photographer Morvan has been documenting gangs in France’s suburbs for 40 years, he’s followed the Hell’s Angels, Skinheads and even serial killer Guy Georges, who took him hostage in 1995 and tortured him for three weeks. This volume serves as a retrospective of his work. French text, illustrated throughout with both colour and black and white photographers of members of various gangs and sub-cultures. A very good copy in photo-illustrated wrappers with French flaps.