Questioning Teenagers
Facing the consequences of 200 years of industrialisation will the next generation be wiser than we have been?
I am engaged in creating video and photographic portraits as an avenue for exploring perception and as a method to conceptualize individual experience. At this time of ecological, stomach economic and social instability, we are all in some way questioning ourselves. It is a time of revaluating our place in the world, our work, our consumption and our actions.
The photographic portraits were inspired by an interest in the next generation and the way in which teenagers are symbolic of both the present moment and the future. I asked the teenagers to come up with a scene that represented his/her relationship with nature and a scene that represented his/her concern for the future. I also interviewed them on video to hear them express their connection or disconnection with nature and their awareness of ecological issues in their own language. I wanted the teenagers to be active collaborators in the portraits and for them to choose the scene and therefore take responsibility for the image.