Over ten years and across four continents, Matthew Brookes photographed dancers in Paris, Milan, London, South Africa, New York, Brazil and Los Angeles. Expression of Freedom: Through the World of Dance gathers this sustained project around a direct proposition: movement can make freedom visible. Rather than confining dance to the stage, Brookes photographs bodies in motion within their geographic settings, allowing place and gesture to share the frame.

The range of participants is central to the book. Acclaimed professionals appear alongside street performers, while differences of age and background broaden the meaning of who may be represented through dance. Figures associated with the Paris Opera Ballet, the Royal Ballet, La Scala Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet and New York City Ballet connect the project to major institutions; its inclusion of performers beyond those institutions resists treating virtuosity as the only form of authority. Togetherness and inclusion emerge not as supplementary themes, but as conditions through which the title’s idea of freedom is articulated.

Brookes is known for an understated, natural photographic manner and for his interest in the dynamism of athletes and dancers. This volume follows Les Danseurs, his 2015 portrait of male dancers at the Paris Opera, but substantially enlarges the field—from one company to multiple cities, traditions and communities. The continuity between the two books makes Expression of Freedom especially useful for reading the development of his approach to movement, portraiture and the social world surrounding dance.

Published by Damiani in 2024, the softcover volume comprises 200 pages and measures approximately 28 by 37 centimetres. For collectors of dance photography and contemporary portraiture, its significance rests in the conjunction of duration, geographic breadth and social range. It records internationally recognized dancers and street performers within one extended body of work, offering a considered view of dance as both disciplined practice and shared expressive language.