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For Over Five Years I Took Portraits Of Girls Aged 10-12, And Asked Them Questions About Their Lives. These Are The Girls Of Our Time.
When I look back to the ages of 10-12, I remember suddenly feeling very uncomfortable in my own skin, and not quite fitting in. I remember thinking deeply and worrying about the world we lived in. I didn’t tell anyone about these thoughts though.
My hopes and fears started to shape me into the adult I was to become, along with the little comments people made that informed my view of myself. It is a very vulnerable age. When you are not quite a young adult, and moving out of girlhood.
As an artist and photographer I decided to embark a project to look at this. I wanted to revisit this age that I remember clearly, and uncomfortably. The Inbetween age of 10-12, exploring the complex transition between girlhood and young adulthood. I wanted to see if I could take portraits of girls at this age, as they are, in the clothes of their choice, and answering the same series of questions, and listening and recording their answers. Giving them the chance to be who they are and celebrate them as they are.
These are the amazing girls from Being Inbetween.
These are the girls of today.
My aim now is to publish a book to celebrate these amazing, fearless, fearful, brave, funny, smart, individuals. Here are a few of these inbetween girls.
This series of portraits is now being launched as a kickstarter by Bluecoat press to make a beautiful book https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/408499994/being-inbetween
More info: kickstarter.com
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Alice aged 10
“I used to aspire to be a teacher, but now I want to be a vet. I dislike it when people are mean to other people, because it is really hard to go through.”
Abigail aged 10
“When I am an adult, I want to be an architect. When I get enough money, I will move to Romania and raise wolves.”
Eden-Ny aged 11
“My family are very open-minded and don’t care what other people think about them. They are very honest as well, and that is where I really get my confidence from, because without them I wouldn’t be this confident.
My ambition is to show people who I really am through what I am good at, and put a message out that you can be who you want to be, and not what anyone else wants you to be.
I wish for everyone to be happy and that no one would have to starve or feel that they are not equal to everyone else.”
Alice aged 11
“When I am adult, I want to be an author, and maybe I want to set up a business to help children who are in foster families or in care, or those who have a disability. My ambition is to help other children to make them feel that they are not alone.
‘I have craniosynostosis; when I was a baby, the bones in my head had already fused together. When I was six months old I had to have an operation, then another one when I was one.
‘My wish is to visit the rainforest. I imagine it to be tropical and I would love the smell of it.”
Heavens aged 11
“I speak Spanish and English. I was born near Madrid, but moved here three years ago. When I am an adult, I want to be a doctor, or I would like to be a midwife, and have wanted to do that since I was about five. I fear dying and leaving everyone behind. My dream is to go to the moon, and I would also like to go to Jupiter. I would like to swing around on the rings.”
Amy aged 10
“I don’t like people who don’t feel equality matters. I prefer people who actually respect everyone equally. My hopes for the future are for all people to have a roof over their head, and have family or people who they can be with and feel loved and be cared for. I wish to be happy for ever; to always be loved and to grow up to have a really good life.
‘I am the oldest of my friends, but I am one of the smallest. It doesn’t actually matter that much, though. Just because you are small doesn’t mean to say you can’t go on to great things”
Erin M aged 12
“I am in-between in my own way; I speak two languages and have two nationalities, so sometimes I think and dream in one language, and sometimes in the other. I think because Brexit might introduce stricter borders, that might stop me from seeing my Bulgarian family, and it makes me wonder what will people think of me for being half-Bulgarian?
‘It makes me quite frustrated, because people might be ashamed of me because I have a different culture to other people, and I think, “Why is that the case?”’
Becca aged 11
“When I am an adult, I want to be a racing car driver, a scientist and a singer. Also I want to get a job where I can look after and raise big cats, like lions and tigers.
My dream is to walk like my sister so I can run with her and go where she can go. If I could walk, that is what I want, to go where my sister goes, so I can go in the hard bits and follow her. My wish is to walk.”
Lottie aged 11
(Lottie and Becca are identical twins.)
“I would like to be a zookeeper or be a vet or a writer when I am older. I dream that I become famous by having an amazing life and then writing about it.
I hope the world doesn’t die, that we stop destroying the world. We have got to stop cutting down trees as well to make homes and to stay warm.
I am scared that the sea level is rising and also I worry about the coronavirus.”
Heavens aged 10
“I love being adventurous, creative and drawing. I hate being bossed around. I would love being adventurous, and I wish nobody died in the world.”
Isabella aged 11
“I hate people being mean to each other, I think we are all the same, so I don’t like people being so harsh on each other, and I don’t like how people just take some things for granted – it is not fair on other people who might not have the opportunity. I wish for the world to be a better place for everyone because it is not fair – people being mistreated.
I worry about pollution and climate change. The polar bears are not getting enough ice because of climate change, it’s their home we are destroying, and I would like to change that with my wish”
Kiara aged 10
“All my education is leading up to the job I want to do when I am older. When I am an adult, I want to be a surgeon; I just want to help people get better. If I do, I will remove some hearts and put somebody else’s in. I would rather be a surgeon than anything else.
I hate discrimination and stereotypes, racism for definite, and anything that is bad in the world, to be honest. I hate the fact that our planet is being ruined. I see a future for the planet, and I don’t, because some people in this day and age are ruining the planet by littering, pollution, stuff like that”
Cara aged 12
“I love Biology, I suppose it is because you get to know what is inside you. There is so much that goes on, that you don’t really think about; like breathing you don’t think about it, your body just does it.
I wish to be magic, like if I wanted to, my hair would go curly. Also I could stop time, I have always loved that idea. If you had been mean to a friend and didn’t mean it in that way, you could pause it go back and say it in a nicer way. If someone was going to die unexpectedly – you pause time, go back and prevent them from dying.
In the future I hope that not everything returns to mechanics; that we are not run by robots. I hope that we can rely on people; that we stay as a community, because I feel we are drifting apart.”
Jodie aged 10
“My dream is to be a horse rider, as well as a dancer, as well as a gymnast.
My hopes for the future are for homeless people to be off the streets, and for people in Africa to have food, and for the world to be a happy place.”
Erin L aged 12
“My ambition is to stop things in life that really annoy me, like pollution and plastic in the sea. I really want to stop and encourage people to recycle and to help make it more of a safe world.
I wish for world peace and for everybody to happy. I wish for there to be no violence or any pollution in the world.”
Maria aged 10
“My dream is to become a good teacher so I can help children overcome their difficulties, so they can become great people like doctors and prime ministers.”
Joey aged 10
“I don’t really like mushrooms, because they taste weird in your mouth and they have a weird texture.
When I am an adult, I want to be an animal physiotherapist, because it helps animals, and you can take them swimming and help them to get their bones stronger and those kinds of things.
I wish for everyone in the whole world to be treated equally and for everyone to like dogs, so that they could all have one”
Poppy aged 11
“I play football, I play guitar and sing and I love running. When I am running really fast it feels like nothing can stop me.
I really hate it when people treat others differently because of their race or ethnicity or gender.
My hopes for the future are that I carry on with the things that I love; carry on with the things that make me feel confident and I hope I stay as carefree as I am at this moment.”
Silver aged 11
“My ambition is to help the world in all its conflict. So there are little things you can do like save the environment, and then there are big things like speaking up for the people who have been hurt. I would like to do things that give other people a voice”
Ruby aged 11
“I hope that in the future, society is more open about body image, because not everyone is like what you see in the magazines, everyone is different, and I really hope people can accept that more. A lot of people doubt themselves when they really shouldn’t because hardly anyone looks like a model. Everyone is perfect and unique in their own way. My ambition is to be more self-confident when I am older and to help other people be more confident about themselves. My dream is probably to have a decent job and two pomeranians”
Sadie aged 11
“In my ideal world there won’t be global warming, and there won’t be war and hate.
I have a strange fear; when I think of the universe and that there is nothing else out there, I can’t get my head around it, and I get muddled up in my thoughts. I find it quite frightening.”
Stephanie aged 11
“I love to dance and I love acting because you get to express how you feel; I feel free. I am not afraid to say what I have to say , I am not a shy person. My dream is to have a big house, a loving family and loads of pets – mostly dogs. I wish that there was no evil in the world and we were all nice to everyone, and everyone had a voice in the world, and no one would be put down or anything”
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