Feeling seen: identity in modern Britain – in pictures
From gender activists to model train enthusiasts, Oliver Frank Chanarin’s new solo project explores our need for attention – and anxiety of being overlooked
With Thomas
Chanarin often finds himself on society’s margins — from suburban fetish clubs to accident-faking ambulance chasers, from amateur dramatics groups in church halls to gender activists protesting in the streets
With Anon
Oliver Frank Chanarin’s first solo project A Perfect Sentence explores the drive for attention, the complexity of being seen and the anxiety of being overlooked, in photographic encounters across Britain. In a country fragmented by political polarisation, pandemic isolation and the weaponisation of identity politics, Chanarin attempts to reconcile the eccentricity of Britishness with the pressing need for new forms of representation. A Perfect Sentence by Oliver Frank Chanarin is available to purchase via Loose Joints
With Katie
‘In the heart of this coastal city, cut off from the sea behind a high retaining wall, was a sprawling military barracks that consisted of endless rows of run-down Georgian buildings enclosing a vast parade square. Perversely, the British army is permitted to proselytise in schools, operating a national recruitment campaign. Sixteen-year-olds are the fastest growing group of recruits in the army, despite the fact that children recruited at this young age are more likely to suffer mental health issues later in life and early death’
‘In the heart of this coastal city, cut off from the sea behind a high retaining wall, was a sprawling military barracks that consisted of endless rows of run-down Georgian buildings enclosing a vast parade square. Perversely, the British army is permitted to proselytise in schools, operating a national recruitment campaign. Sixteen-year-olds are the fastest growing group of recruits in the army, despite the fact that children recruited at this young age are more likely to suffer mental health issues later in life and early death’
With Faye Maisie and Robyn
‘The three sunbathers regarded me suspiciously as I approached them, glaring into the sunlight blankly. They evoked in my mind August Sander’s famous photograph of three young farmers, standing together on a country road on their way to town. I was looking for the Mayflower Steps, which made Fay, Maisie and Robyn all laugh; I couldn’t tell if they were laughing at what I was thinking or at something else. The three sunbathers continued to watch me impassively. You should go now, they told me, without words, with their faces’
Chanarin refuses the authority of a final image, opting only to present in-progress darkroom prints that show the processes of correction and selection, the images refusing to resolve themselves
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