Coming Of Age is the first monograph by photographer Petra Collins, presenting the world in of a pioneering modern creative in a deeply personal manner.

The Toronto-born photographer first picked up a camera at the age of 15 and her creative spark and the innate ability to hone her feminine drive, her dreamlike craft would begin almost immediately. Still only 25 years of age, Collins has built on her early photographs to go on to directed a number of short films and endless photography exhibitions having being mentored by the formidable Richard Kern.

Coming Of Age is the third book by Collins and follows Babe and her breakthrough number Discharge: “This book is extremely personal, but I hope when you look at it you can see yourself in it, too,” Petra writes in the introduction. The book collects some of her earliest work and pairs it with autobiographical essays by the artist herself.

The first few images in the book were taken when Petra was aged just 15 and coming to terms with the devastating knee injury that would end her ballet dreams. Remembering this moment, she said: “That to me was so devastating because I was my body and having that taken away from me was an awful experience, but because of that I ended up picking up a camera,” she says in an interview with ID before adding: “I actually really miss this darkness. The light was more transitional.”

“I always wanted to make things that were beautiful to look at but maybe a little violent or scary or not very digestible,” she added in the same interview. “Photography is so intimate and personal for me.”

The book, which is split into sections to signify parts of her life and career, includes parts such as ‘Family Album’, ‘Bed and Bath’ and ’24-Hour Psycho’. Each section touches of different subjects like mental health, the fashion industry and, at times, rolling with some well-known faces.

Here are a few of the images taken from the book (via ID) along with an interview with Collins lower down:

(All of the images in this article have been sourced via the book and ID)