We are proud to announce that Adam Taylor has been selected as a finalist in PDN‘s Photo Annual 2011 for his “Street Kids” work. Adam has been working on Street Kids, an ongoing project documenting youth living on the periphery, for almost two years now. As Adam explains, he is “attracted to the subject matter, youth on the outskirts, outsiders, existing at the prime of their lives at an extreme place of upheaval, uncertainty, heartache and dysfunction”. His images strike a chord, they show us raw emotion, adolescence, grit – they are a window into lives that you may pass everyday on the street but are removed from.
“I wanted to run with them – be a friend – to go inside this subculture and tap into their wildness and rebellion. I wanted to listen to their stories and try to make images from a place of raw feeling and sensitivity.”
“At times I couldn’t show their identities – at times they wouldn’t let me photograph.”
“You will notice that most of the time I am trying to get as close as possible to who I am photographing. It’s as if I’m wanting to imprint the texture of their skin on the photograph – to get inside their head and express something from this place that is really just a few steps off the beaten track. These young people are doing the best they can, trying to figure it out and escape from their pasts, their upbringings. In even the most hardened of these characters there is a place of light and beauty – you just gotta dig for it and spend some time with them.”
“Sometimes we all lose track of the pain that got us from darkness into light – we fall down and it’s fuckin hard to get up and find the light. This is an exploration of that journey – with grace.” Adam is running with them, he is gaining their trust to be one of them and photograph them, and for that we are lucky. We all experience the same emotions, the same feelings, make decisions, we are not that different from one another – Adam’s images allow us to empathize with a subculture that mostly goes ignored because of their appearance or choices. His images allow us to connect on a raw emotional level with these kids – a level which most would not have reached otherwise.
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For more information about any of the Glasshouse photographers or for portfolio requests, please contact
Jai-Lee Egna
Photo Agent, Glasshouse Assignment
212-462-4538 jai-lee@glasshouseassignment.com