Photographer Alison Jackson catches celebrities in their most private moments... Or does she?

Click here to see Alison Jackson's work

Alison Jackson has photographed the Queen of England on the john, Mick Jagger doing acrobatics, and Bush and Blair relaxing in the sauna ... or at least it looks like she did. Jackson's faux celebrity shots actually rely on a coterie of celebrity doppelgangers and an uncanny feel for the pop cultural fantasies lurking deep within our tabloid-clogged hearts. Her camera may not lie, exactly, but it does bend the truth.

Jackson's latest retrospective, Confidential (Taschen), is excerpted in the November issue of Radar magazine. View our online-only extended gallery of Jackson's provocative shots, and hear what she had to tell Radar about trash culture, addictive British tabloids, and her sympathy for Posh Spice in this exclusive interview.

---

Why do you think people reacted so negatively to your first work [a picture of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed holding a mixed-race baby]?
I think [Diana] entered the public collective psyche in way that people didn't really know. When she died they didn't think they were that attached, but then they were crying over her death. That's when I became interested in this phenomenon of why we feel like we know a celebrity when very few of us have actually met them. For me, the photo was suggesting that Diana would not have existed without the media, which provided her with a wide audience. That, in fact, media imagery, photography, and TV actually create, construct, and manufacture celebrity.

Arguably, all of the world is celebrity-obsessed, but it seems like the British really take it to the next level.
It's just phenomenally huge here. Last year three new magazines opened, all based on celebrity and the grimmer, more sensational aspects of it. As an artist I am commenting on the phenomena of the media, which is a mediated form between us and a celebrity. It's totally fake. We're living our lives through a virtual world of false imagery. There's something that's very boorish.

But that doesn't stop people from consuming it.
You're right. If you watch people looking at their laptops, they cannot take their eyes off of it. It's better than Coca-Cola.

How do the people you mock react?
Some people get furious. I heard that one celebrity walked into an exhibit and slammed the wall with his fist, demanding that the photo be taken down immediately. I also heard that Victoria Beckham looked at one photo of mine and said that she couldn't remember posing for the photograph.

Do you ever feel bad for invading people's privacy?
Yes, absolutely I do. That's the point. We are a culture of voyeurs because we can't have what we see. We only get a paper version; we can never have the real deal. It's unattainable. It creates an obsessive, invasive set of needs. Often I hear, when people look at my work, they say, "Oh my God, I can't look at that." Then they want to look at it more. We're an extremely voyeuristic culture because we can't touch what we are seeing on the screen. We're desensitized and we're removed. The persona is a constructed thing.

So would you say you're sympathetic toward overexposed celebrities like Posh and Becks?
Sympathy is the wrong word. If you choose to be famous, part of the deal is that every part of your life is going to be scrutinized. And it's addictive. Once you've had a few people scream your name, you want more than that. Then there's a boundary, and that boundary gets violated often, but tough luck.

Are you crossing that boundary?
I am crossing that boundary, but I'm trying to raise questions about why you want to see up someone's skirt in the first place.

Do you think England and America's preoccupation with celebrities is an entirely bad thing?
In some sense it's a style of pornography—we're titillated by something we're looking at and not participating in. It's also about living vicariously. Isn't that the point of pornography? You're not doing it yourself.

What do you think is responsible for the absolutely meteoric rise in popularity of celebrity photography?
The advancement of photography and filmmaking. The very nature of photography means that you have access to people you wouldn't normally have access to. It allows you to dream erotically or intellectually about somebody that you would not normally have access to. I think photography creates that desire. It's also the glamour. Isn't it gorgeous to see someone with beautiful hair and beautiful breasts? You can dream about living a fantastic life when yours is really boring. You can sit in an armchair and have an enjoyable life without doing anything.
"Victoria Beckham looked at one photo of mine and said that she couldn't remember posing for the photograph."
Is there anyone who you especially enjoy mocking?
I really like the royalty. Mainly because they are so private, it becomes very fascinating to wonder what they might be like in the private.

What about celebrities that personally fascinate you?
Tom Cruise is interesting and the whole Scientology thing is interesting. But it's also interesting how he remains private in a world that is so eager to sell stories and will reveal secrets and private information.

How much of the celebrity culture do you consume in your personal time?
I'm not interested in celebrity, I'm interested in our fixation. But then I find myself reading celebrity magazines and fighting to put it down. I want know what celebrities are doing for my own photographs.

How is your latest book, Confidential, different from the work you've done before?
It's ruder. My last book, Private, was much more suggestive, less revealing. I think the reason for that is that we have become ruder. We've delved more into the private lives of celebrities. We expect more, to see more. We want to know how good people are in bed; we want to know the size of their dicks. You want to know every detail. And you get it. Even pro-celeb magazines can't resist showing something mischievous, slightly cheeky.

Two years ago, some magazines might not have nerve to show these things. I think the celebrities are ruder, too. They probably have to be because the public has more access. So for the celebrities to catch their attention, they have to be ruder. It's a vicious circle.

Click here to see Alison Jackson's work

WORK AND MINDY: Mindy Kaling can't get enough Office politics >>

READ MORE
• Spencer Pratt: The wit and wisdom of reality TV's most reviled Romeo
• Today's Top Stories