Making Space by Petra Collins

Petra Collins' new project 'Nowness', the first of a series of three documentaries about teen dancers, is something you should be excited about. The famous rookie photographer and her sister embark on a road trip all across the Deep South to explore what it means to be young in 2015, and if someone can explain that it's her.

I love Petra Collins precisely because she captures a really different side of adolescence, she doesn't like the typical teen commercial dream that can be seen in tv shows or movies, she captures it as it is and as it's shown in her photographs. That's why, in my opinion, she's so big. That intimacy, that mood she catches with her camera is something that i've only seen in other female directors –like my favourite Sofia Coppola in 'The Virgin Suicides' or now Gia Coppola in 'Palo Alto'– and it's something that i really love. Here's what she says about this project:

“Anna and I went into making these docs thinking that most of the girls would be like us,” she says of portraiting the star-spangled dance team of a New Orleans high school and the realization unearthed along the way. “They would be facing the same problems we faced as teens—self-esteem issues, eating disorders, etc—and by the end of the trip we realized that every girl we interviewed was totally confident, powerful, and that most of them didn't struggle with those things.” 

It's really curious that now that my teen years are way behind and that girls now seem to be so much pressured about her looks and more judged about her actions, that they embrace all that pressure and find themselves, probably, at an earlier age than what we used to do in the 90s. It's surprising and a relief for me as being confident and comfortable in your own skin was my struggle during those years.

Watch below the first documentary 'Making Space' and keep an eye out for more:

sourcess: nowness & IG