SIXTEEN

My contribution was to make portraits of young people mostly in London who have a cultural connection with a country outside of the UK. The work I made fits in with my wider research which explores how to represent identity and cultural difference.

16-year-old girls in pictures

16-year-old boys in pictures

Photographer Craig Easton conceived this ambitious project following his engagement with sixteen-year olds at the time of the Scottish Referendum. It was the first, and as yet only, time that these young people were given the vote in the UK. Building on the success of that work he invited 16 documentary portrait photographers to collaborate with young people across the country to make a visual vox pop on what it means to be sixteen now.

The photographers opened up conversations with these young people about their hopes and fears, and who or what sustains them, giving prominence to voices rarely heard. The project explored how social background, personal histories, gender, beliefs, ethnicity, and location all might influence aspiration.

Photographers involved were: Robert C Brady, Linda Brownlee, Lottie Davies, Craig Easton, Jillian Edelstein, Stuart Freedman, Sophie Gerrard, Kalpesh Lathigra, Roy Mehta, Christopher Nunn, Kate Peters, Simon Roberts, Michelle Sank, Abbie Trayler-Smith, David Copeland and Kelly O’Brien.