Last Thursday, the United Kingdom voted itself out of the European Union. AKA Brexit. AKA cue panic on the continent.
Actually, 75% of young Brits voted to remain in the EU. And basically, the older generation of baby boomers are sort of giving the middle finger to British youngins. In the meantime, lots of young people in the UK have taken to the Internet, as well as the streets, to express how broken and betrayed they feel by the results.
In the meantime, artists and art platforms have been celebrating youth freedom in the EU, as the youth of the UK won’t be part of them for long. Dazed & Confused, for one, chose to revisit their favourite photojournalists who have celebrated the beauty and diversity of the European Union as an entity. Of course, primarily youth-run platforms and publications were advocating to remain in the EU, and ever since the results came in, they’ve been publishing pieces and revisiting stories that mourn their loss and document how and why the EU is important to them. They almost unanimously express that the Leave vote was a decision made solely by older generations, while they (young people) are the ones who will have to face the consequences of this grave referendum.
Dazed published photos from France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, and Finland, paying homage to their “EU fam,” and expressing how they feel that their future was decided for them by the older generation.
The photos from France are taken by photographer Sophie Stafford, who documented teen techno ravers on the streets of Paris. For Spain, the focus is on photographer Alba Yruela’s portrayal of Barcelona, documenting skate spots and a general feeling of Spanish positivity. A Barcelona local, Yruela captures natives and internationals alike. The German photos document a beautiful Berlin summer, the kind we all dream of, photographed by New York-based Fumi Nagasaka. Being a foreigner in Berlin herself, she underlines the truly international nature of Berlin’s world. Photographer Renato Santos depicts Portugal and the Lisbon “ghetto kids” who dominate the music scene. And finally, for Finland, Jouko Lehtola captures fleeting moments of Finnish youth, from raves to parties to heartbreaks and more.
Dazed mentions that they felt compelled to publish these as the UK, the country where the platform is based, faces an uncertain future, and as an overwhelming majority of them voted to Remain. All in all, the photo stories fit beautifully together and signify the harmony of a diverse, multicultural European Union.
For all the photo galleries in their entirety, head over to DAZED.
#art #photography #EU
