Many teenagers around Jersey seem to complain about having little to do on the island. My project is to portray the youth culture of Jersey through capturing day-to-day life of living on this island. Photographers explore the topic of youth culture by capturing everyday life of young adults like myself through the eye of a lens. Laura Pannack draws an audience to her work by displaying true similarities of teenagers and her photographs which help older generations understand how a teenager lives their life. Pannack aims to photograph young adults who are likely less fortunate than people like myself to show their true meaning in life, whereas Phil Knott photographs youths with a slightly similar culture to myself by capturing ‘typical teenager’ activities such as, skateboarding and mopeds. I have chosen to explore these artists specifically because of their non-conventional approaches, taking a closer perspective of the individuals personal life. By being able to capture these perspectives of individuals in a similar way to these chosen artists will allow me to develop a further understanding of how fellow teenagers live a similar life, yet different in many aspects compared to mine. Laura Pannack’s photo series ‘Island Symmetries’ (2020) captures nostalgic imagery that focuses on the friendships formed in a small community on wasteland called ‘The Cracker’ that stands between two estates – ‘Tibby’ and ‘The lost city’. Keeping her focus tight Pannack positions herself at the key meeting place where young people would flock to socialize. The Cracker in Tipton and Topside in Gagebrook. ‘Tibby’; is a cul de sac of residential houses that curls around a small playground with ‘The Cracker’ being an open space of rolling grass lined with blackberries and stinging nettles. Pannack states that, ‘Motorbikes, peds and quads bark loudly every day and at all times.’ She captures these troubled teens in a unique way by trying to include an aesthetic landscape throughout most of her teenage portraitures. Pannack was the first artist I chose due to her distinctive methods of portraying these teens through attempting to keep the behind landscape out of focus and bring all attention to her key concept being the children. Phill Knott has captured kids from London to LA, all in a similar portraiture style to present the teens in full detail. Knott grew up around scooter culture and has always been drawn to this specific topic. He became most well known for his portrait photography and his ability to give us a completely unobstructed insight into an individual.
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Charlie your essay has potential, but what is your focus in relation to youth culture? A sense of identity and/or community? Ie. How does Lura Pannack’ portraits provide us with an inside of the lives of young people etc. This is important in terms of the focus of your hypothesis.
Pg 1: Historical / theoretical context: Read seminal essay Inside/Outside by Abigail Solomon-Godeau that explores the two different positions that a photographer can take when photographing their subjects. You could in this paragraph refer to two historical photographic studies on youth by Jim Goldberg and Ryan MCGinley
Text on Inside/ Outside
https://www.photopedagogy.com/insideout.html
https://www.photopedagogy.com/uploads/5/0/0/9/50097419/week_5_abigail_solomon-godeau_inside_out.pdf
Read this essay by Emma Price to learn how she compared both + used Inside/ Outside
https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo21al/2021/02/12/essay-entry/
Some resources on Goldberg/ McGinley
https://www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/art/jim-goldberg-raised-by-wolves/
https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo21al/2021/01/12/theory-literary-sources/Tracing%20the%20Roots%20of%20Jim%20Goldberg’s%20Raised%20by%20Wolves
https://vimeo.com/jimgoldberg/raisedbywolves
https://autre.love/interviewsmain/2017/5/20/the-kids-were-alright-an-interview-of-ryan-mcginley
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/06/t-magazine/art/ryan-mcginley-kids-were-alright-museum-contemporary-art-denver.html
https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/90076/ryan-mcginleythe-kids-were-alrightbasquiat-before-basquiatwall-writers/
For Pg 2 & 3
Pg 2: Your first contemporary photographer exploring youth culture – apply theory of Inside / outside position by Solomon-Godeau to your analysis / interpretation
Pg 3: Your second contemporary photographer exploring youth culture – apply theory of Inside / outside position by Solomon-Godeau to your analysis / interpretation
Conclusion: Draw on similarities and differences between both artists above and analyse/ evaluate your own photographic responses (provide examples)
Illustrations: make sure you use illustrations of artists work + your own. Caption each illustration with artists, name, title, year
Bibliography: list all sources using Harvard