AGE OF WONDER - Portraits of young people in Bradford.
Artist in residence for Born In Bradford
Age of Wonder – Portraits of Young People in Bradford, is an ongoing portrait project by Carolyn Mendelsohn, Artist in Residence for Born In Bradford.
This photography series explores the lives of young people from 12 years old upwards - revisiting a selection annually.
This photography series explores the lives of young people from 12 years old upwards. The photographs shown here are a small selection of the portraits taken during the first few years. The series aims to photograph and interview up to 30 young people annually until the age of 18-21.
Participation is at the core of this work and is about the individual young people choosing to take part and co-producing their portrait; selecting the clothes they wish to wear, how to represent themselves, in a way that feels comfortable and natural to them, and finally being asked questions about their lives. Engagement within this process is one of empowerment for the young people, giving them a platform and enabling them to be seen and their voices heard.
The project is an exploration of, and offers us an insight into, the individuality and thoughts of this age group. In the long term this work will enable research into identity, attitudes, aspirations and how and why they evolve over the years, placing the young people at the heart of the process.
"I am interested in being a dental technician, but my dream job would be an astronaut or a pilot to be honest. When I was younger, I just wanted to explore the world."
Ayaan 12
I took part in this because I wanted to express myself and show who I really am to people, you don’t really get the opportunity to that."
Abi 14
"My dream is to be like my dad because he Is a very successful man. My dad is very humble and very kind. He always works very hard, so he can feed us."
"My ambition is to help people; I don't want anyone to feel stuck. I want everyone to have someone to talk to."
Jasminder 15
"My hobbies are reading and sewing and playing with my friends. I dislike people who are mean and litter and are just horrible for no reason, because there's no need.
My favourite place is, and this is really weird, but I really love Tescos.
I wish for everyone to be nice and to have peace in the world."
Alyssa 14
“I am actually scared to be alone with my thoughts sometimes. I also have a fear of spiders as well.
I wish for people to treat more people with respect. it's like a chain reaction.
If everybody treats everyone equally, then maybe we won't have division.”
Kyle 13
“When I am an adult, I would either want to be both architect and engineer
or all these three, architect, engineer and bus driver
My hope for the future would be to get the jobs that I want. Have a nice house, go on holiday quite often and travel, because it's fun. I've never been abroad, which is why I want to go abroad."
Grace 15
"I love my family, I love my friends.
All my friends are always there for me when I need them, and I’m there for them.
My hopes for the future? I think, I want the world to be a better place;
Less racism, and discrimination. I want to make my parents proud. "
Owen 13
“I love my family, my friends. I also really love my pets. I wish for the world being a better place.
It's too late now for climate change. There's no stopping it, it is inevitably going to happen.
However, it is not too late to die down the consequences of climate change.”
Nikola 14
“I love walking and I really do it whenever I have the time to just take a five, ten, twenty minute walk.
I really like nature, I feel a connection with it, because it gets all my stress away.
My hope for the future is for all the issues in the world to decrease or to get better.
I wish to be happy, to live long life, and for everyone around me to be happy."
Zahra 12
“I love my family. I love eating cookies with milk. My dream to help others
and to get rid of racism. Throw it at out the window, legit. Like, throw it in the bin.
When I am an adult, I really want to be a therapist."
Francis 13
“My hope for the future is to not have wars all the time and poverty.
And to have peace, world peace. but that's probably quite unlikely.
My dream would be to have Volkswagen Mk 2 golf from 1985 because they're such beautiful cars.”
Ibraaheem 14
"My hobbies include gaming, martial arts, running, high intensity interval training,
video production, photo making, cycling.
When I am an adult, I’d like to own my own business, my own garages and petrol stations.
I’d like to buy my dream car and I’d like to become a footballer."