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Analogue Girls in a Digital World

‘The Tumblr-Girl Gang’ or the evolution within a new wave of young female  photographers’

From the dreamy escapism of Olivia Bee and Eleanor Hardwick, over the ‘Brit-grit’ of Francesca Jane Allen to Megan Doherty’s raw neonlit naturalism, we weave our way through the misty haze surrounding their talent and the development of a movement.

Since its inception, the internet has been a space for collaboration, inspiration and connection. In recent years, an increasing focus has been put on how women utilize an environment to reach out and unite with others in overwhelming support of each others work, words and experiences. This is where Tumblr comes in. In 2007 it established itself as a platform for personal blogging and has since become a pillar for youthful expression on the internet. 

The enduring importance of Tumblr versus the instant gratification of Instagram or Snapchat, is that is acts as an open visual diary in which we can scrapbook our lives, curating and connecting as we go.

Francesca Jane Allen - ‘Alida’ - Hackney, 2014.

Following the rise of Rookie magazine in 2010, with the then 14 year old Tavi Gevison, Grace Miceli’s Art Baby Gallery and more recently Audrey Wollen’s Sad Girl Theory, millennial photographers are able to both experience and partake in this new wave of feminism. The Tumblr community, while being a heavily curated space, offers an opportunity for women to take control of their image, to present themselves and others as they choose. It acts as an alternative to other social media sites, in which public and circulated personal vulnerability equals in unification and collective strength. 

While this favoured style -embraced by many- in the vein of Petra Collins appeared as the Soft pink and hazy 70s light of a Playboy ad, these girls re-appropriated the genre and were not afraid to get pink and fluffy with it. 

The USA saw Brooklyn based Olivia Bee, rise to Flickr fame and go on to work for the likes of Nike and Converse, while the more recently emerged London based Francesca Jane Allen, has worked with house names such as i-D to Rolling Stone. Leaning into the designer fashion world, Eleanor Hardwick recently shot a campaign for Vivienne Westwood.

While the vintage, ethereal aesthetic, echoing the 60s and 70s, harmonises the work of the above, there is a new girl in town who’s bringing the style forward a few decades.

Megan Doherty’s 90s-esque snapshots of city life in Northern Ireland turn the ‘Tumblr girl world’ on its head. The lighting is bold and the colours saturated. Her models uniformed by dyed hair and cigarettes scream teenage youth rebellion. Unlike Hardwick or Bee who embrace and subvert femininity, Doherty photographs are raw.

Megan Doherty - 2015

Megan Doherty - ‘On Top of the Hill’ - 2016

Her aesthetic is a product of a bleak urban environment and within that the people that surround her. While her focus still emits an analogue haze her subjects are alternative, confronting the camera with a ‘fuck you’ attitude. Unrefined and raw, Doherty’s work speaks for a different type of girl.

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Despite their varying styles there’s an overarching element that unites all, their subjects: friends, lovers, sisters, the real people that surround them as their focus. Their muses are the people that encircle their life, making for an intimate insight into youth culture today. The subjects are revealed as exactly that, subjects, free from objectification, their beauty is raw, discovered by one and shared by many. These women, create a narrative into which we are all to willing to surrender to. 

This is the true beauty of ‘Tumblr-Girl Gang’, they curate their own individuality online. The narrative, whether constructed or not, speaks of the freedom of choice. The choice for young woman to establish their own identity, one not governed to them. This is the element that is and should be most cherished.

Francesca and Eleanor are showing tomorrow at Mother London in ‘A New Sensation’ curated by Ashleigh Kane and Grace Miceli.

Shot by Kern

Seasoned photographer Richard Kern is best known for his images of scantily-clad, amateur models.