The Adorned

The images in this series were produced during a 2009 residency in San Francisco in supported by the Rakyo Photo Centre. The work, 'The Adorned’, expands on my earlier project ‘The Becoming’, first published as a monograph in 2006. In this 2009 series I document the ethnic and social diversity of young people in the San Francisco area and create a contrasting set of portraits to bear reference to the differing cultural environments and mores these young people are subject to. The work predominantly features youth attending the non-profit Out of Site organisation which provides free creative programmes for public high school students who live in challenging situations. Variegated imagery documents the cultural diversity of the individuals with a focus on their customs, clothing, behaviour and environments. This project was the first time that mode of social anthropology was used by an artist in this residency and stands as an archival document of San Franciscan youth culture.