My.self
Georgia, My.Self, 2018, © Michelle Sank
My.Self is a photo-book made in collaboration with photographer, Michelle Sank.
Michelle has created a photographic portrait of young people from the Black Country aged between 13 and 19 years old who are forming their identities and presenting their sense of themselves about who they are through their clothes, make-up, hairstyles and their gender. The book combines Michelle’s portraits with a representation of a questionnaire that serves as a record of young peoples’ thoughts and opinions on a series of questions.
All of the people who agreed to engage in the project were asked how they wanted to present themselves in their portrait. They were asked to consider the particularities and specifics of their clothes and make-up and then photographed where they felt most at ease.
“I was very privileged to have gained access to the personal spaces of the young people I worked with and the generosity offered to me in communicating about their lives - their heritage, their struggles and their aspirations.
What really struck me photographically were the mementos and references that said so much about who they are at this point in their lives both culturally and as adolescents.”
- Michelle Sanks
Artist Biography
Michelle Sank was born in Cape Town, South Africa and has been living in England since 1987. Centring her work around topics of socio-economic diversity and growing up, Sank’s thoughtful images explore the pressures and hopes of young people in suburban and coastal towns.
Growing up during Apartheid in an immigrant community, Sank feels an affinity with the experience of growing in a society from the peripheries. Praised by mentor David Goldblatt for finding the sensational in the everyday, Sank’s gaze is highly inquisitive and non-judgemental. Identifying with the alienation which results from a dislocated sense of belonging, Sank describes her portraiture as a form of social documentary, seeking to empower her subjects through their experience of the sitting process.
Egombe, My.self, 2018, © Michelle Sank
Harry and Olivia, My.self, 2018 © Michelle Sank
Maurice, My.self, 2018 © Michelle Sank
Rebekah, My.self, 2018 © Michelle Sank
Saydul, My.self, 2018 © Michelle Sank
Tanya, My.self, 2018 © Michelle Sank