At just 21 years old, photographer Tess Petronio has captured the essence of one of contemporary art's most ambitious theatrical productions in her debut book "Anne Imhof's Doom Documented by Tess Petronio," published by IDEA Books. The young Paris-based artist spent three months documenting German artist Anne Imhof's groundbreaking reinterpretation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at New York's Park Avenue Armory this past February.

Petronio's involvement in the project began with a spontaneous letter she wrote to Imhof, asking to intern with the renowned artist in any capacity. Despite her tender age, Petronio had already gained recognition for her intimate photographs of friends' daily lives, which she shared on Instagram with a casual immediacy that caught Imhof's attention. After meeting in Berlin, Petronio found herself flying to New York to join Imhof's "merry band of 50 or so punky performers" for the ambitious production.

The photographer's role in "Doom" was deliberately open-ended – she was simply asked to show up with her camera and document whatever unfolded. What emerged was a series of off-hours portraits of the cast members, captured in their own clothes as they navigated their individual New York experiences. Petronio herself became part of the performance, appearing onstage every night while projecting her view of the proceedings via a theatrical Jumbotron.

"I had no linear perspective on how I was going to enter Anne's world," Petronio explained during a recent Zoom call from Paris. "Other than to be there for three months during the preparation for the show and to record the process." Upon arriving in New York, she was struck by the scale of everything – the city, the Armory venue, and witnessing "a performance brought together and carried by a strong woman."

Imhof's "Doom" presented Romeo and Juliet's story in reverse order – from death to first kiss – through the lens of American high school culture. The sprawling, three-hour-plus performance invited audiences to hang out, observe, retreat, and return, blurring the lines between watchers and watched. This theatrical upending of narrative order perfectly matched Petronio's own navigation of her relationship with her fellow cast members.

The book features portraits of notable performers including artist and Demna muse Eliza Douglas, musician Lia Wang (who performs as Lia Lia), actor Casper Von Bülow, skaters Efron Danzig and Akobi Williams, and model Jakob Eilinghoff – many of whom had relocated from Berlin specifically for the production. Petronio's images reveal a gentle, humorous intimacy that captures both her subjects' personalities and the bonds she formed with her fellow "Doom-ers."

"We all bonded and became friends, and they're documentary images, but they're also staged to a degree," Petronio noted. "Anne really wanted me to capture the essence of these youthful kids, my generation of kids, between shows and after-hours and in diners – to explore what the American dream means to Europeans, I guess." The photographer laughed when mentioning diners, having gotten her introduction to the disappearing world of BLTs and "laminated menus the size of thesauruses."

Petronio's approach involved immersing herself completely in the cast's off-stage lives. She walked through the West Village with Douglas when the artist had a severe cold, captured Von Bülow at the precise moment he was half out of his fuzzy bear costume while texting on his phone, and photographed the production's resident tattoo artist, Dean Violante, while he himself was being tattooed. Everyone in the cast, including Petronio, received tattoos during the production – hers reads "moma" on the middle finger of her left hand, a tribute to her mother's encouragement of her photography.

The photographer comes from a deeply creative family background. Her father works as an art director and editor, while her mother is a stylist and art director who gave Petronio her first camera when she was just one year old. "Everything is shot from the perspective of... I mean, I don't know how tall you are when you're one, but you're pretty short!" Petronio said, laughing about recently receiving those earliest photographs from her mother.

What makes Petronio's debut publication particularly magical is that it captures a young woman stretching the boundaries of her life while documenting how an entirely new world unfolds around her. Though she trained her camera on the cast, her images – characterized by gentle, humorous intimacy – reveal as much about herself and the relationships she built during the three-month experience.

"I let myself be taken into their world, and it can be complicated to do that, because being a photographer, there can be this kind of dominant role," she explained. "And it can be hard as a young person to feel you have the legitimacy to photograph someone. So I tend to be very interested in the person, aligning with them."

The experience proved transformative for the young artist's understanding of her craft and career path. "It was the first time I realized I enjoyed photography and that it was a choice of mine to pursue photography – I'd been unsure before," Petronio reflected. "And it was the first time that I realized that even if it's an art form, you should be able to have fun, and explore, and not pressure yourself."

With the publication of her book, Petronio has come to appreciate what it meant to be trusted as an artist without expectations placed on her shoulders. "Anne has this beautiful way of letting people be themselves, of empowering them to feel confident," she said. "She gave me the power to move when I didn't know how to, and that's precious. She makes you feel certain about what you're doing, to trust yourself." The lasting impact of working with Imhof in New York taught Petronio about "the freedom of creation" – a lesson that continues to influence her artistic development as she establishes herself in the contemporary art world.