Damien Hirst

When I was commissioned to photograph Damien Hirst in January 1999, he had already been one of the most famous people in the British international contemporary art scene for several years. He first became widely known when his artwork ‘The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living’ – a shark suspended in formaldehyde – was exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery in 1991. He had gone on to win the Turner Prize in 1995.

I was asked to photographmagazine; my portraits would go alongside an interview with him by journalist William Leith. The pictures would be published in the St Valentine’s Day issue. While I was on the journey down from London, I had a call from the magazine saying the editor had a particular image in mind she wanted me to shoot: Damien holding a pig’s heart.