TEEN SPIRIT
How do we describe photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten’s new exhibition, Teenage Stories? Larger than life …

There were plenty of moments in adolescence that made us feel small, but it appears as though Julia Fullerton-Batten remembers things differently. For her enchanting new exhibition, Teenage Stories, the London-based photographer—who recently won Paris’ Fondation HSBC pour la Photographie award—features teenage girls placed amid miniature worlds, peeling gum off of shoes the size of cars and waking up beneath highway underpasses. While the physical awkwardness is meant to exaggerate the emotional instability at that age, the capsized scale at the same time reveals that the girls who have a handle on their surroundings are, actually, only dreaming.
ARIELLA GOGOL

What inspired Teenage Stories?
This series is in many ways a reflection on my own adolescent experiences in Germany and the UK, captured and interpreted many years later by my camera. Adolescence is both a time of unease and expectation, as well as of residual freedom. The girls are motionless, stare into space, absent-minded and daydreaming. It is this dream-like world that I have attempted to capture.

Why are the girls larger than their surroundings?
The surreal settings stress the importance of daydreaming for teenage girls. In their fantasy world, girls think themselves much more powerful than they are in their everyday lives. That is why the idea of them towering over houses and streets appealed to me. But, it was also important for me to continue to show the girls being involved in daily activities. If you like, it is a two-dimensional expression of the imminent, explosive power of female adolescents on the way to becoming an adult.

With Teenage Stories, are you making a cultural statement?
I cast girls who are not professional models and whom I don't know, then place them in a model village, an unfamiliar environment, and ask them to pose in a certain way. The result is a degree of awkwardness in their behavior that I consider to be a part of being a teenager. However, as the shoot develops, the girls become more confident and their faces begin to reveal more adult expressions, which I find gives a fascinating insight into their ability to adapt to change.

Interview with Julia Fullerton-Batten, Nylon, published in 11.06.2007