What's it like to be a young European today? New doc photo project explores...
- Text by Shelley Jones
- Photography by Various. See Captions.
Since the economic crisis in 2008, young people all over the world have faced a sustained period of uncertainty about their futures.
In response to this time – which could present as many new opportunities and new beginnings as it does challenges – the Norwegian government commissioned 12 amazing documentary photographers in Europe (from Jocelyn Bain Hogg to Tommy Ellingsen) to capture young people in their natural environments.
The resulting body of work Project Sea Change is a book and roaming exhibition that explores the issues affecting many of Europe’s young people – from migration and political extremism to Islamic fundamentalism and unemployment.
Project Sea Change is inspired by the FSA Photographers of the Roosevelt Administration in the USA who took more than 250,000 pictures, from 1935 to 1942, to document the extent and effects of the Great Depression and to highlight the measures that were taken to lift America out of crisis. According to the publishers: “Great photography has the potential to tell stories with a power to provoke change. That is difficult to achieve with words alone.”
Check out a selection of the photography in the gallery above and visit the Project Sea Change website for more info on the book and exhibition.
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