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The only thing that would be different would be you
by Stefano Giogli
The idea of making a photographic project on "Teenagers" occurred to me as a challenge to the unjust notion that prevails regarding the young. Many times, and often with sensationalist objectives in mind, our youth is portrayed in a negative fashion.
We can easily be deceived by numbers and percentages, and by the general representation of teenagers in the mass media, that seem to want to tell us that being young is synonimous with being incompetent, violent and apathetic. I, on the contrary, believe they are an authentic source for a positive, intellectual, cultural and moral change in our world.
I then thought to get in touch with them through something close to their interests, that allowed me to connect with a small part of them and of their lives: the camera.
The next step was to find the place where they would be photographed. A space where they felt comfortable and where I believed they were best represented. I chose to photograph them in their bedroom. The bedroom is a place and a non-place at the same time. Sometimes the bedroom is a space they inhabit in its totality and in other cases, just to the bare minnimum. It is also a social and a private space at the same time where changes leave a trace, a graffiti that lingers or dissolve in the inexorable passing of time. In this space one can sense that something is about to evolve or transform, or find codes that speak to us about a particual age or social status. The bedroom is in a sense, a Tower of Babel that allows us to understand different personalities and the traits of those who inhabit them.
I believe that each one of the young people I photographed holds a secret, the desire to be seen, to find out that out there, there is somebodoy who is interested in knowing their thoughts, their dreams, and their utopias and who believes in their potential.
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