Images of Kanye West, Skepta, Damon Albarn, and more to feature in new exhibition Lend Me Your Ear

Music photographer Andy Cotterill and illustrator Ben Tallon are launching a new London exhibition Lend Me Your Ear later this month that includes images of Grace Jones, Jarvis Cocker, Kano, Chuck D, The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys, Stormzy, The Strokes, J Hus, Young Fathers, and many more.

The exhibition will be raising funds for charities CALM and the Young Urban Arts Foundation.

Speaking about the collaboration, Tallon says, "I wanted to work with Andy because there’s a humanity, an honesty to his photography that captures something vulnerable and unique in each of the many characters he has documented. In today’s world, our feet don’t touch the floor and it’s easy to forget that we each have a unique journey that is valuable, interesting and worth celebrating. We are confronted with so much information, thousands of idyllic daily depictions of what life could be like, but deep down, we’re all a little lost. At a formative age, these musicians showed me why expressing our truest self is crucial if we are to make sense of the world. I want to share that. Creativity is undervalued when it can help people in so many ways. There are no better examples of that than in music."

Cotterill adds, "Ben approached me and asked if I wanted to collaborate on an idea he’d had. I took a look at his work and the energy felt like a great fit for my photography. How someone else would interpret my images, seeing it all in a new way was fascinating. I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with a lot of strong individuals over the years so it represented a chance to celebrate such a varied range of characters and their creativity, people who moved us in some way by staying true to what they are."

A selection of limited edition t-shirts will be available from the Stance Covent Garden store, with all proceeds going to CALM. The image of The Prodigy's Keith Flint will be auctioned off when the exhibition closes.