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UAL Research Online

"When We Were Young: Derek Ridgers: Club and Street Portraits 1978-1987"

Williams, Val (2004) "When We Were Young: Derek Ridgers: Club and Street Portraits 1978-1987". Photoworks, Brighton. ISBN 190379613X

Type of Research: Book
Creators: Williams, Val
Description:

This is a solo authored book, including 100 photographs edited by the author.

Val Williams set out to cross boundaries between a photography monograph, a fashion history and a memento mori, revealing photographs that are important in terms of what they are as well as the subject matter they examine.

Between 1978-1987, British photographer Derek Ridgers made a record of the young inhabitants of London’s streets and Soho’s club scene, a record of a highly inventive though ultimately transient youth culture. The photographs indicate a range of secret societies governed by rules of dress and behaviour that were unwritten but strenuously observed. In all this Ridgers’ photographs frequently appear grave in tone and approach. They can be said to relate back to the highly traditional role of portrait photographer as patient observer. Val Williams collaborated with Derek Ridgers to document his archives, and she provided a framework for his own essay in the volume. She also incorporated her own research into the punk youth culture and ‘club scene’ in London.

Additional themes explored include the importance of art school fashion culture, particularly in relation to St Martins, the impact of David Bowie as a style icon, and the rapidly developing new music scene in clubs and polytechnics. These were drawn into an argument that present Ridgers as a photographer who moved from taking images of bands on stage to making documents of our times.

Publisher/Broadcaster/Company: Photoworks, Brighton
Your affiliations with UAL: Colleges > London College of Communication
Research Centres/Networks > Photography & the Archive Research Centre (PARC)
Date: 2004
Date Deposited: 03 Dec 2009 22:29
Last Modified: 10 Sep 2010 14:44
Item ID: 1664
URI: https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/1664

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