Gallery 1
The Ascension Years
A run of images from the moment before household-name status, when hunger, curiosity and magnetic confidence were still visible in the seams.
Exhibition text
Before the crown, there was the climb.
Before they were icons, they were kids on the come-up. The Ascension Years peels back the curtain on a forgotten archive of photographs captured in the early 1990s by British photographer and documentarian Tee Max. Tucked away for nearly three decades, these raw, flash-lit moments show artists before the world knew their names, confident, curious and carving their place in music history.
Now staged at the Royal Albert Hall in its most expansive showing to date, The Ascension Years brings together previously unreleased images of artists like Usher, Beyoncé, Method Man and The Notorious B.I.G., alongside UK trailblazers such as Michelle Escoffery, TY and Shortee Blitz.
Shot across the 90s into the early 00s, this archive documents a pivotal shift in music, creativity and cultural identity. Tee Max's instinctive lens captured raw energy, unguarded moments and rising stars before they became household names.
Full selection