Teenage girls making TikToks: Philippa James’s best photograph | Photography

THis began as a project with my daughter and her friends who are all part of the smartphone generation. At that time they were 14 years old and I wanted to learn more about the relationship they had with their mobile phones. In 2022, A study by Ofcom showed that nine out of ten children at the age of 11 had one and that 91% of them used video platforms, messaging apps and social media up to the age of 12. I talked to my daughter and friends about how to use their phones and surround the negative reputation, the teenager and their screens. They told me the positive and negative aspects, e.g.

I asked if I could photograph her. There were very little instructions from me and – instead of photographing them in a controlled portrait style, as I would normally did – I just observed how they did their thing. The energy was high: they moved so quickly, danced to short music roles, turned each other Tiktok Dance again. It was so hectic that I had trouble keeping along. This picture, called Tikkok came out of this session. I found this composition and asked Lucy to look at myself quickly. I had broken about two seconds before the moment and they switched to the next. As a portrait photographer you get a feeling for certain recordings, and I knew that this was the one.

Back in processing, I thought about how the girls use their phones as a form of visual communication or as a theoretician Nathan Jürgenson calls it“Social photography”. This means that the result of the photo is more social than an object, as it would be in traditional photography. Social photography is less about creating a document or an archive, and more about a picture or a video that basically leads to visual conversation.

The more time I spent with the girls, the more I got to know the darker side of her phones – sexism and online hostility to women. I shared the project as an exhibition in the work in Oxford and worked closely with other focus groups of girls in teen age, who shared their experiences with online sexism and sexual harassment. I was shocked by some of the things I learned. The last project contains photos of your handwritten testimonials.

To promote my research, I read activists Laura Bates And Soma SaraThe work – and the original title of the project was not a big deal that Sara informed, says that sexual harassment is so often seen as a “big thing”. But in the course of the project I changed it into a slag that refers to a Tikok soundbite that my daughter played me. The acceptance and possession of the texts left me frustrated and frustrated as a mother and feminist. It is not a comfortable title, but the shock factor is important to attract attention and raise awareness.

This photo has many layers, but it is also striking. It's nice and tempting and I think it has held a wonderful moment. It is a celebration of the joy of girls and a group of girls in their own world. And just like social photography, these teenage years are short -lived. In this picture you have so much fun together – it is so important to grasp this trust in a safe place.

This picture also made me very aware of the triangle of three looks: Lucy, who stares at the viewer, appears for the camera, but also confronted the viewer with this attitude. Then my eyes like the mother and the photographer, which changes further research on this topic. Then the viewer's gaze, which may be returned to their own teenage years. I find the tension between these really challengers with this topic.

The girls in the picture are now 17. Since it was done. People like Andrew Tate have become generally known – although the children for years knew that they did adults – and recently triggered the Netflix series adolescence to broad debates.

This week a mother got in touch with me and said: “I have to talk to them about short skirts.” Where I am sitting as a mother and where I sit as a woman is often completely disagree. As a mother, they want to be instinctively protective. But if you zoom out, why shouldn't a woman wear what she wants? Unfortunately, young women are endangered today, only by having a phone. This is the world that we don't know today as parents.

Philippa James's CV

Born: Bath, 1978
Trained BA in art and moving picture in Maidstone, Kent (2000); Ma in photography in Falmouth (2023)
Influences “Rineke DijkstraPresent Miranda JulyLynne Ramsay, Tracey Emin, Abigail Heyman, Cindy ShermanSamantha Morton, Catherine McCormack, the film Abbreviations by Robert AltmanAnd Lisa Taddeo'S Book three women. “
Climax “Last year for Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize and exhibiting that are exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery. Ged to funds from Arts Council England to develop my practice – it has the confidence to develop my visual language. LensCulture's Emerging Talent Award. “”
Low “In 2020, I was publicly criticized that I started a trans women in my first personal project. 100 women from OxfordAnd demonstrators threatened to sabotage the exhibition. I have learned a lot from this experience about responsibility, representation and the emotional weight of photography of real people. “
Top tip “Do work, think about what you did, then do more work. Photography can just look, but it is difficult – and consistency is really important.”