Reality Crossings

These images are from a commission for the 2nd Fotofestival in Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg.

My proposal was to create a visual document about youth in Mannheim and the surrounding areas. My planned approach was to photograph a cross section of young people in both the city and its surrounds working with both local and immigrant communities. The portraits have been produced through a mix of street photography and negotiated youth group collaborations. I am interested in the way that individuals are shaped by social structures, how gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity 'enter into' us as subjects. By undertaking a series of portraits in varying physical and social environments, I hoped to capture the nuances, norms and sense of identity that are particular to and a reflection of youth within contemporary society in the Mannheim vicinity today.