Jamie Hawkesworth's stunning studio visit shots of Ai Weiwei for AnOther are superb

We first posted Jamie Hawkseworth on the site in May last year when we were floored by the brilliance of his series depicting the coolest-looking kids we’d ever come across. This new work is doing something completely different but the quality remains sky-high. Jamie was commissioned by AnOther magazine to travel to Beijing and photograph the iconic Chinese artist Ai Weiwei in his studio.

What I particularly love about the series is that while some speak of the dissident artist’s plight in fairly direct terms (the policemen posted outside, the artist slumped unhappily towards the camera) other shots offer a far more tangential take on Ai Weiwei’s situation, inviting us to see – or maybe invent – metaphorical detail as and when. This beautiful series is easily in the top bracket for the ubiquitous studio visit style photoshoots, combining Jamie’s creative talent with the extraordinary situation of his famous subject.