Flowers From South

This project explores the tender nature of masculinity amongst adolescent men who are often seen as the opposite, weaving in depictions of nature as a grounding reference for reflection on beauty and growth.

For the past two years I have been photographing a group of teenage boys who live on the housing estate next to me in South London. Young men like them are often read as perpetrators before they are allowed to be seen as anything else. I have spent time becoming close with them and paying attention to the quieter moments. Gestures of affection, playfulness, uncertainty, their want to be understood and the surrounding landscape that continues to grow alongside them, are all part of the story.

In the darkroom I repeatedly print and rework the images. I touch the paper as it develops, introducing water, light and interruption during enlargement so that the photograph remains unsettled. The marks and shifts resist perfection, mirroring the state of becoming that these young men inhabit - a process of figuring things out rather than arriving fully formed. The work unfolds through improvisation and together the images operate like a form of songwriting. Each print becoming notation towards a pslam on looking with care.