State of the Union: six photographers capturing youth culture throughout the country
This is England.
[N]ext month’s general election has ignited a wide-reaching debate about the state of the UK. Generational divides reached their widest point with the vote for Brexit, the fight between culture and consumerism is ongoing, inner cities combat with the impact of gentrification everyday, xenophobia and institutionalised racism continues to put minorities at gross disadvantage and young people face greater barriers than ever to find secure housing and employment. Against this political backdrop artists continue to capture their surroundings, their friends and families, wild nights out, long, listless days and spontaneous moments of hedonism or creativity. Here are six of our favourite photographers exploring the state of the union right now.
Damien Hart (@Damien.Hart_)
Damien Hart is a photographer based in London, and as the city mutates, revels and perishes under austerity and funding cuts, he captures the dying moments of London’s beauty exclusively on 35mm. The amalgam of freaks and suits on the tube, £1.20 cans of red stripe on a rough grass, warehouse raves, and dilapidated architecture will evoke the strange and mystifying conundrum of pursuing higher education in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Stay tuned for a new feature on London from Damien Hart soon.
Chris J. Fowler (@christopherJFowler)
Christopher J Fowler is a photographer capturing the liminal space of young adulthood. The amount of young brits who have moved back in with their parents has risen to one in four and with that comes a whole world of complexities, tensions and new identities. How do we manage in a country where our ‘young adulthood’ has been extended well into our 30s, and owning a house someday seems like a woozy day dream from another generation? Christopher’s series Sleepwalking paralleled the dual identity of young Britain’s collective consciousness with somnambulism or sleepwalking, a zombie-like state of dreams, blurred realities and not really knowing where you’re supposed to be. Also his pal Tomme Des Garçons above.
Gabrial Deacon (@GABRIALDEACONPHOTOGRAPHIC)
Gabriel Deacon photographs his friends and acquaintances in Manchester. Alternately his images capture creativity, friendship and listlessness, collectively creating an honest portrait of his surroundings. Removed from the tropes of photographing inner city youth by Gabrial’s own identity as part of the demographic he shoots, his work is a true insight into a space that is more often than not described or stereotyped by outsiders looking in.
Ben Gore (@BASEDGORE)
Ben Gore’s photography series Second Adolescence is a collection of images concerned with coming-of-age. Capturing young people in Brighton resulted in work that is tender, revealing, drunk and full of tattoos. Placing the images side-by-side, Ben creates disorientating juxtapositions the point where youth is on a collision course with adulthood and where you might be getting high, inking yourself and be considering whatthefucklifemeans but you still have a pet hamster as well.
Chloe SHeppard (@EOLHCSHEPPARD)
Chloe Sheppard is shooting girls on film. Rejecting the male gaze to capture the zeitgeist of female agency, her images are imbued with a sombre 70s film quality that often feature phrases and verbiage that reflect an internal struggle to feel good about ourselves. Focusing on portraiture, Chloe’s aesthetic references film noir, an extrapolation of Americana through a transatlantic lens and 90s bad girls. Chloe’s new exhibition “I Never Promised You A Rose Garden” is a culmination of all her work and a final goodbye to her adolescence. Showing in East London, the exhibition opens on May 26th and is showing this week and you can find more info about how to attend here.
Scandar Silva Payne (@SCANDARSILVA)
Inspired by the humour, irony and the “shit ton of dog photos” that Elliot Erwitt captured in black and white, Scandar Silva Payne keeps a camera close to himself at all times to document unexpected, candid moments – usually of his gritty surroundings, his friends hanging out and skating, and of dogs in bags.