In 2007, The Sun newspaper stated on a front-page article, “The most important issue now facing Britain is…the scourge of youth”. The Sun is the highest selling newspaper in the UK, so it could be right to presume that its statements reflect a great percentage of how the general public view the 'youths' of today.

With the 'youths' being such an apparent threat to our society, no one gives them any time of day. Their identity has been continuously manipulated by the sensationalist mass media, to the point where time magazine ran a front cover story titled 'Britain's means streets'. With all this fear that is distributed by the media, when was the last time that anyone stopped to actually look at the youth of today? As Gordon Brown has said, “Are the kids out of control”? Are they drunk, stoned, knife wilding murderers? Or are they vibrant, fun loving and just suffering from a bit of boredom?

The artist uses photographic image as a means for the viewer to study the youth of today.  It was Susan Sontag that said “The camera makes everyone a tourist in other peoples reality” (1977) and Roland Bathes described photography’s significance “…to arrest that what I see has indeed existed” (1980). This project uses the camera as a means to see through this largely feared and thus marginalized section of society. The artist intends to show that the youth of today can be intriguing to study within the photographic form. With the public trust placed within the photograph, people might reconsider the fear they feel for 'youths' on the street if they can study them in a photograph and find character.

The Kids Are Out Of Control