This past weekend, it might have felt like everyone you know was in Primavera. Or maybe you were one of the lucky ones out there on the beaches of Barcelona, enjoying what’s been dubbed “Europe’s Coachella”. Perhaps you’re recovering as we speak, trying to put the pieces back together before boarding a Sleazyjet flight home.
Amid the thousands of partygoers who made the pilgrimage, photographer Gracie Brackstone arrived with her camera in hand. Having honed her photography practice documenting Manchester’s queer clubbing scene, taking evocative portraits which captured the chaos, love, hedonism, melancholy, the frenetic energy and the morning-after lethargy of nights on the town. Her recent photo books Life’s a Parade and Growing Pains and Thank You Notes bring together her pictures from these heady times. This weekend, she turned her lens on Primavera, documenting the febrile Catalan nights, the crowd and the chaos.
“Primavera just brings so many beautiful people together!” she told Dazed. It’s a particularly special event for her. “I know so many people who have flown over... Everyone is so friendly and here to have a good time. The fact that the festival is right by the beach and it’s warm and goes on until the morning too, I feel like it’s the perfect setting and sets the summer off perfectly.”
Among this year’s headline acts, which included the likes of Charli xcx, Troye Sivan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Chappell Roan, Brackstone was most excited to see Miss Bashful and Isabella Lovestory. Speaking to the London-based photographer on day one of the festival, she said, “Their sets are gonna be so fun and sexy. I’ve been meaning to see Miss Bashful for such a long time. Isabella, I saw last year at The White Hotel in Manchester and it was a very sentimental memory for me for so many reasons, so I think seeing her in Barcelona will be a core memory too. But I actually don’t know as many people on the lineup as previous years, so I am hoping to find some new artists and music that’s a switch up from my normal scene.”
Overall, she paints a blissful, euphoric picture of Primavera and the possibilities it offers for self-expression among her friends. “We are all committing to the characters our clothes embody,” she added. “I wore a big hat, like I was off to the races. My girlfriend was dressed like a sailor. I feel like it’s important to have spaces where people, especially queers in the currently climate, can feel safe and actually just be themselves. The dolls are twirling and we’re all having fun.”
Visit the gallery above. for a closer look.