A poetic meditation on how Brexit is affecting Britain's youth
- Text by Ella Guthrie
- Photography by Ore Okenedo
As the decision to leave the European Union rippled through the country this June, many of us were wondering how we would be affected by the vote – not least the nation’s children.
“They should have considered what we wanted, because we’re the ones who are going to be affected”, says one child featured in The Darkest Hour. Director Thomas Ralph’s new short film asks children to consider their post-Brexit lives and how they will begin to navigate this difficult social path.
After the nation voted to leave, the topics of xenophobia, racism and patriotism all came to the fore, sparking hate attacks and protests en masse – which are all themes explored in the film, but through the eyes of those too young to be allowed a say at the ballot box.
A visual interpretation of Lyves’ ‘Darkest Hour’, the film was made as a competition entry for Homespun Yarns 2016. Given its beautiful cinematography and the dark truth emanating from behind the screen, its no surprise it ended up winning.
“I don’t really understand the world at the moment,” says another child, “I don’t really know what’s going on.” Spoken simply, yet sincerely, this youthful lack of understanding resonates with us all.
“We found that, much like the vote itself, opinion was equally divided and that the notion of one’s ‘Darkest Hour’ may not necessarily be looming on the horizon, it may have been the hour that just passed,” Thomas says.
The darkest hour is over now, the decision is made. We should take some inspiration from the youngsters and try to move ourselves into the light.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
You might like
“I didn’t care if I got sacked”: Sleazenation’s Scott King in conversation with Radge’s Meg McWilliams
Radgenation — For our 20th Anniversary Issue, Huck’s editor Josh Jones sits down with the legendary art director and the founder of a new magazine from England’s northeast to talk about taking risks, crafting singular covers and disrupting the middle class dominance of the creative industries.
Written by: Josh Jones
Free-spirited, otherworldly portraits of Mexico City’s queer youth
Birds — Pieter Henket’s new collaborative photobook creates a stage for CDMX’s LGBTQ+ community to express themselves without limitations, styling themselves with wild outfits that subvert gender and tradition.
Written by: Isaac Muk
The suave style and subtle codes of gay San Francisco in the ’70s
Seminal Works — Hal Fischer’s new photobook explores the photographer’s archive, in which he documented the street fashion and culture of the city post-Gay Liberation, and pre-AIDS pandemic.
Written by: Miss Rosen
The stripped, DIY experimentalism of SHOOT zine
Zine Scene — Conceived by photographer Paul Mpagi Sepuya in the ’00s, the publication’s photos injected vulnerability into gay portraiture, and provided a window into the characters of the Brooklyn arts scene. A new photobook collates work made across its seven issues.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Joe Bloom’s View From a Bridge
More stories, more human — The artist and creator of the vertical video generation’s most loved storytelling platform explains the process behind creating the show, and the importance of bucking trends.
Written by: Isaac Muk
When David Wojnarowicz became Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud in New York — In 1978, the American artist and his friends donned masks to pay tribute to the French poet, who was born a century before him. Miss Rosen traces the differing yet parallel lives of the queer revolutionaries.
Written by: Miss Rosen
