Last night, Dazed+Labs celebrated the end of its first term. After ten weeks of shooting, developing, printing, curating, and hanging, the Rugby Portobello Trust played host to an exhibition of nine students, Tibiyan Hayden-Smith, Ashleigh Beugre Joncourt, Edward Jia Jun Kau, Sofia Marijuan Carreno, Grace Phillipa Israel-Albertine, Reece Yeboah, Tyler England, Omar Gommari, and Mischa McRae.
With classes spearheaded by photographer Eddie OTCHERE and Dazed’s Arts & Culture editor Ashleigh Kane, students were armed with cameras and aided by a makeshift darkroom set up in the youth club’s kitchen. The results included both candid and carefully considered takes on their surroundings, from west London to Berlin, and Chinatown, as well as in the intimate surroundings of their homes with friends and family.
Dazed+Labs launched in November as a cross-continental educational initiative between Dazed & Confused and Red Hook Labs. By using the camera as a tool for expression, we aim to empower young people and the next generation of creatives to tell their own stories with their own voices.
Special thanks to Wellcome at Mother London for providing printing, Films Not Dead for cameras, Kodak Professional for film, Artful Dodger Imaging for processing, Photo Fusion for scanning, Propercorn for the snacks, Water in a Box for the keeping us hydrated, and the Rugby Portobello Trust for being a great host. Thank you to Thomas Smith for lending an extra pair of hands when we always needed them. For Katy Fox, Bafic, Bolade Banjo, and Nadine Ijewere for coming down and speaking about their journeys and sharing their expertise. And mainly, thanks to all the students involved. See you next year!