Lightscapes Award for outstanding Folio.
DARK SIGNS OF A RED SUMMERS SHADOW is a photographic narrative that draws on the conventions of documentary practice, to reflect upon the interrelated experiences of young adults living through a time of heightened uncertainty. In this unfolding moment of social, economic, political, and environmental crisis, young adults have found their transition into adulthood interrupted. The pandemic throughout 2020-2021, arrested the flow of time towards adulthood. The uncertainty precipitated by inaction on climate change, ongoing wars, the tension of further economic issues, racial and social discrimination, has contributed to a sense of apprehension for the future.
Consequently, coming of age amid various global challenges has influenced the way young adults consider their present and future. Although many generations have grown up in times of uncertainty, and crisis, young adults today feel like their future is becoming increasingly bleak. This documentary aims to reflect upon the experiences and sensations, which underpin the affective moments of becoming. It seeks to interpret and convey a sense of the tension, and precariousness that accompanies this complex passage into adulthood, exploring the intimate moments of a generation finding its footsteps in an ever-shifting world.
Through practice-led research, and poetic-observational photography, I investigate how ominous shifts in our social world disrupts young adult’s transition from youth to adulthood. My project aims to weave together portraiture, cinematic conventions, and speculative documentary practices. My research draws on my own experiences and those of my friends to process the consequences of the pandemic, the unfolding crises of the present to reflect upon our future in a world transformed.
instagram: @ryleyclarke