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The photographer staring death in the face

The photographer staring death in the face

Salad days of a fleeting youth — Ever looked at a photograph and thought you've seen it before? Ben Gore’s candid new book Goodbye, Blue Monday, is like flicking through the pages a surreal old family photo album you found in the loft.

A cat in a bathtub. A creepy flea market. A dad sunbathing on the beach. Goodbye, Blue Monday is the follow-up to photographer Ben Gore’s celebrated photoboook Second Adolescence.

Citing Jim Goldberg and Larry Clark as major influences, Ben has used photography to re-examine how he looks at the world around him. With themes of maturity and mortality, he uses a familiar lens to face our greatest fears: growing up and growing old.

“[Going freelance] made me hyperaware of the passing of time,” Ben says. “I’m now fully in control of how I spend my time, but I’m also fully responsible for the good or bad I do with it. It’s only on me. The preoccupation with death in the book comes from that ethos. Death is the final full stop on your time and I’ve got a drive to make the most of my time while I’m here.”

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Goodbye, Blue Monday will be shown from 21-24 July at the Doomed Gallery Dalston, and is available to preorder now.

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