Hackney Youth

From Summer 2021, over the period of year I worked creating portraits of young people around the area where I was living in London, the borough of Hackney. A former industrial hub, Hackney is one of the most diverse boroughs in London, representing a rich and diverse mix of communities. It is also a relatively young borough, with a quarter of it's population under 20.

I wanted to focus on this particular age group (teens and early 20s) as this younger generation is dealing with many problematic legacies left by generations before. The burden on young people to make sacrifices on behalf of the older generations was exacerbated by Covid-19. While the pandemic itself has been covered in a myriad of ways, I wanted to find a less direct way to do so, reflected through the eyes and experiences of the diverse group of young people that I met, and who shared with me their opinions on the times and hopes for the future.