The LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph in Charlottesville, Virginia last week hosted a lively and broad range of artists and work. To give you a taste, I’ve featured the retrospective work presented by Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide, the wildlife conservation imagery by British photographer Nick Brandt and, today, two Americans who explore the taciturn teenage years in enlighteningly divergent ways. In Reality Show, Doug Dubois presents work from his series My Last Day at Seventeen and Olivia Bee introduces images from Kids in Love at the New City Arts Welcome Gallery in Charlottesville, Virginia through June 26, 2016.
“Russell Heights, Cobh, Ireland, 2010” from the series My Last Day At Seventeen by Doug DuBois (courtesy of the artist).
As the title Reality Show suggests, the most popular form of teenage entertainment has been turned toward its audience. Exploring a stage when everything seems larger than life, both artists present candid (more or less), large and colorful photographs of kids coming of age, Bee in a white middle class area in the U.S. and DuBois in a working class neighborhood in Ireland. Almost all the similarities end there. Almost.
“Baller, 2011” from the series Kids In Love by Olivia Bee (courtesy of the artist).
“Jordan up the Pole, Russell Heights, Cobh, Ireland, 2010” from the series My Last Day At Seventeen by Doug DuBois (courtesy of the artist).
Kids do risky things. They have raw emotions and act impulsively. Home? A refuge and a prison. Sex? If, when and as much as possible. Both Bee and DuBois achieve an acute realization of these adolescent facts of life in the rendition of their subjects. Their revelations are as identical as teenagers themselves, struggling at once to be part of a tight clan and yearning to be viewed as unique beings. But when coming of age is one of the most enduring stories told in any art from, how do viewers discover anything new? It’s all in the telling, of course, and both Bee and DuBois are master storytellers. Moreover, the similarities and differences in their work prove enlightening.
“Purple Haze, 2011” from the series Kids In Love by Olivia Bee (courtesy of the artist).
“Lenny blowing Smoke, Berman Steps, Cobh, Ireland, 2009” from the series My Last Day At Seventeen by Doug DuBois (courtesy of the artist).
As in all portrait work, the final image is an alchemy of the relationship between photographer and subjects. And although it is inevitable that working class kids in Ireland and middle class kids in America may have a different rapport with an inquiring photographer, the middle aged white guy (DuBois) and the just beyond teen woman (Bee) evoke very different reactions from their subjects. And then there’s the biggest, most important difference, the attitude of the photographers themselves. It’s the key that unlocks the door to their compelling work.
“Home (Driving to Oceanside), 2009” from the series Kids In Love by Olivia Bee (courtesy of the artist).
“Bonfire 1, Russell Heights, Cobh, Ireland, 2011” from the series My Last Day At Seventeen by Doug DuBois (courtesy of the artist).
DuBois’ portraits emphasize the battles of growing up through his depictions of conflict and isolation alike. His colors are bright, his focus, sharp. The kids’ postures and attitudes portray bravado arising from fear, an urgent need to break out of the confines of their circumstances and a poignant, palpable uncertainty. Bee takes that uncertainty into an entirely different realm, one that is unapologetically romanticized. The urgency in her images is expressed through grainy, gauzy veils that convey a sense of illicit adventure. Her soft focus and palette emphasize light and color as agents of hope and possibility without veering into saccharine territory. To me, this difference in outlook is epitomized in DuBois’ image of a girl struggling over a wall versus Bee’s interpretation of a stand of trees, viewed from a ski chairlift, as a heart. Enough said.
“Miya on the Wall, Russell Heights, Cobh, Ireland, 2012” from the series My Last Day At Seventeen by Doug DuBois (courtesy of the artist).
“Heart (Ski-Lift), 2010” from the series Kids In Love by Olivia Bee (courtesy of the artist).
To learn more about this exhibit, go to: http://www.look3.org/exhibitions2016/
To learn more about Olivia Bee, go to: http://oliviabee.com/kids-in-love/kids-in-love-2/
To learn more about Doug Dubois and to view or purchase My Last Day At Seventeen, go to: http://dougdubois.com/books/
Feature Image: “Pre-Kiss, 2010” (Detail) from the series Kids In Love by Olivia Bee (courtesy of the artist).
“Dean Shows His Tat, Kevin’s 18th Birthday Party, Russell Heights, Cobh, Ireland, 2009” from the series My Last Day At Seventeen by Doug DuBois (courtesy of the artist).
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