honorable mention
Alice Zoo united kingdom
title
Be Happy Or Leave
The idea for the project came about by accident: a visit to Winter Wonderland with my boyfriend as earnestly intended as any other fairgoer. We ate candied almonds and rode the Waltzer. It was fun.
However: the strangeness and ubiquity of the demographic was captivating. Groups of every shape, size, age and race flocked with seemingly no defining “type” in attendance. Snapshots of garish laughter and consumerist festivity surrounded us. It was a paragon of British “Good Clean Fun” (already an uneasy premise). The odd timelessness of it was striking, too; British fairs must have been quite similar 100 years ago, with the same ringtoss games and rollercoasters.
As the project went on, I began to feel the strangeness of returning to the fair again and again, alone, with a camera. None of the blasting chart music or hot dogs were meant for me, as I was no longer a participant, only a witness, almost an intruder. There is much to be enjoyed at Winter Wonderland, but it requires a certain suspension of disbelief: forget your jobs, forget money, forget sadness, forget bureaucracy and “Elf and Safety”. Returning alone prevents this. Often I felt like a voyeur. At times, I felt like a hunter preying on the truly innocent: people “putting on a happy face”. The premise of Winter Wonderland is a simple one: have fun, be festive. Despite the brightly painted Disney faces, though, evidence of faint tragedy looms at every turn. 'Be Happy or Leave' illustrates the tension between the attempt at happiness and the failure to achieve it.
As I develop as a photographer, I have moved away from just incidental street photography and into more cohesive projects, finding that these allow me to develop my vision of a particular thing, and investigate its themes more thoroughly. A Stephen Shore quote has particularly stuck with me: "show people what they're not seeing". In much of my work, I attempt to explore a non-traditional view of the place, person or thing that I photograph, recontextualising it so that the viewer can engage in a new way with my subjects.
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entry description
'Be Happy Or Leave' is a series of documentary portraits which focusses on the loneliness of those attending Hyde Park's annual Christmas fair, Winter Wonderland.The idea for the project came about by accident: a visit to Winter Wonderland with my boyfriend as earnestly intended as any other fairgoer. We ate candied almonds and rode the Waltzer. It was fun.
However: the strangeness and ubiquity of the demographic was captivating. Groups of every shape, size, age and race flocked with seemingly no defining “type” in attendance. Snapshots of garish laughter and consumerist festivity surrounded us. It was a paragon of British “Good Clean Fun” (already an uneasy premise). The odd timelessness of it was striking, too; British fairs must have been quite similar 100 years ago, with the same ringtoss games and rollercoasters.
As the project went on, I began to feel the strangeness of returning to the fair again and again, alone, with a camera. None of the blasting chart music or hot dogs were meant for me, as I was no longer a participant, only a witness, almost an intruder. There is much to be enjoyed at Winter Wonderland, but it requires a certain suspension of disbelief: forget your jobs, forget money, forget sadness, forget bureaucracy and “Elf and Safety”. Returning alone prevents this. Often I felt like a voyeur. At times, I felt like a hunter preying on the truly innocent: people “putting on a happy face”. The premise of Winter Wonderland is a simple one: have fun, be festive. Despite the brightly painted Disney faces, though, evidence of faint tragedy looms at every turn. 'Be Happy or Leave' illustrates the tension between the attempt at happiness and the failure to achieve it.
about the photographer
I am a self-taught photographer who studied French and Spanish at Oxford University. My work is mainly documentarian; I aim to capture the subtleties of life as I see them unfold around me. Photography allows me to feel like a participant in my life: for me, it is a way to engage more fully with what I see.As I develop as a photographer, I have moved away from just incidental street photography and into more cohesive projects, finding that these allow me to develop my vision of a particular thing, and investigate its themes more thoroughly. A Stephen Shore quote has particularly stuck with me: "show people what they're not seeing". In much of my work, I attempt to explore a non-traditional view of the place, person or thing that I photograph, recontextualising it so that the viewer can engage in a new way with my subjects.
back to gallery