Visible Girls project by Alumna Anita Corbin (Class of 1976)
Thirty five years ago, I took 36 photographic portraits for my end of year BA degree show in Film and Photographic Arts. The subjects were pairs of young women, wearing the ‘unofficial’ uniform of their sub-cultural tribe and hanging out in their natural environments of pub, club and parent’s sitting room. I called that work, Visible Girls.
As a 21-year old B.A. student and Putney High School graduate, I had no idea of the adventure those young women would take me on over the following 35 years.
This week, those original images go on show for 6 weeks in central London. In attendance – along with BBC news, media, people from the arts scene, friends and family - will be ten of those ‘Visible Girls’ in the flesh with their husbands, partners and children.
Last year, I had started wondering – what ever happened to those girls I photographed? That original photographic collection, set against the vibrant and eclectic backdrop of early '80s Britain had been conceived to explore the potential of teen-hood, the solidarity of sisterhood and the desire to be seen. Politics, music, fashion and friendship, Visible Girls had portrayed the search for identity; a street level voice that defined the self as part of a tribe. But what had happened to all that potential 35 years on? I was fascinated to know. Sociologically and historically, how had the lives of those women changed? What would it be like to photograph them now? What we would we see?
And so my new project, Visible Girls: Revisited was born. Get the girls together again, retake their portraits and view those changed women in this changed country through a modern lens. Explore through them how, in three decades, shifting British culture and politics has coloured the beliefs, relationships, hopes and identities of all the youths of that generation as their lives moved on - with the aim of inspiring the next wave of change makers.
The first problem was finding the girls! More than three decades had passed and I certainly didn’t have any mobile numbers! The social media news website, Buzzfeed solved the problem last year by running a piece on the original portraits. The exposure was huge – the story got 200,000 hits in a month. I put out a request for the original girls to contact me and on the day it was published, I received the following email:
Hi Anita, word travels fast – I’m the girl in the blue dress at the Royalty. The other girl’s still in London, I’m in the States now,
Buzzfeed’s call to action had worked and opened the doorway to reconnecting with all the women to re-shoot them. 35 years later, Visible Girls: Revisited is starting to take shape with 60% of the girls numbers now in my address book and a retrospective this week at Metro in London.
Two of the girls, Emma and Helen were Putney High students and are still yet to be found. Does anyone out there reading this recognise them I wonder? If you do please get in touch!
It’s turning out to have been quite a journey for all of us in those 35 years.
Who knows where it might take us all next?
‘Visible Girls’ is showing at Metro Imaging in London’s Clerkenwell from Thursday 14th April until; 27th May. Entry is free.
