Seen And Not Heard

Historically, children have had little control over how they are represented in photographs, whether amateur - the holiday snap taken by devoted parents - or commercial - the grinning toddler waking up from a dry night in Pampers. Adults, and adult concerns, have shaped our idea of what childhood looks like. 

Suddenly with the explosion of the internet and accessible digital photography, young people are able to create their own images of themselves and do pretty much anything with those images - literally at the click of a button. 

Does the era of social media and the selfie mark a rise in narcissism and image-obsession? Or does the rise of the selfie mean that children are finally able to take control of their own images?

In 2015 Complicite ran workshops with over 100 young people exploring these issues, gathering material and experimenting with a number of different photographic techniques. Run by Complicite Associate director Kirsty Housely and photographer Sarah Ainslie, these workshops lead to work in progress showings at ArtsDepot in August and at the Southbank Centre in October 2016.