Sophie Green’s photographs celebrate the creativity, uniqueness and eccentricities of under-represented subcultures in Britain, often in playful and light ways. Her camera is a way to access people and sceneries she is drawn to, immortalising the fashion styles, mannerisms, cultural customs and rituals deployed in social gatherings. Merging portraiture and still life images, Green’s photographs are imbued with a feeling of surprise and a love for the theatrical and the unexpected. Her work pushes the boundaries of traditional social documentary with a balance of spontaneity and styled constructions. Her images cleverly enhance the colours, shapes and textures that characterise the environments she encounters. Combining works from the series ‘Gypsy Gold’, ‘A Day at the Races’ and ‘Dented Pride’ in a unique display, the exhibition ‘Showtime’ offers a glimpse into the joyful and tender photographic practice of Sophie Green.
“The exhibition is titled ‘Showtime’ because all the photographs were taken at events, shows or fairs. These events are identifying signposts of a culture, a means of expressing, reinforcing and transmitting values, customs, passion and identity. It’s a physical display of our identity, a positive side of living and expression of life and of who we are”, says Sophie Green.
Sophie Green (b. 1991) is a social documentary and art photographer based in London. Following a degree in photography at London College of Fashion, her work has explored aspects of British culture and communities who are drawn together by a shared identity, passion or cultural heritage. She strives to seek out the glue that unites these individuals together as a collective; leading her to explore the realms of travellers, streetcar culture, banger and stock car racing, arm wrestlers, British cowboy culture, Aladura Spiritualist African churches and congregations and afro hair salons. Many of her projects develop over several years to deepen her understanding of the communities she is photographing and honour the subjects’ lives. Green is drawn to the details that surround her subjects as a way of revealing a deeper story of person and place.