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We get to know five emerging artists featured in the new group exhibition, You Is For Unity
Bringing together 36 photographers from around the globe, Thursday’s Child debut group exhibition You Is For Unity offers abundant visions of love, compassion and resilience. In doing so, they share with us something that is difficult to capture in an image: the power and joy of togetherness.
Since opening in 2019, Thursday’s Child has been a platform for unsigned photographers, filmmakers and digital creators, creating new opportunities for emerging artists. Curated by Dazed’s art & photography editor-at-large Ashleigh Kane and Daphne Chouliaraki Milner, the works in the exhibition have been selected from responses to an open call they put out in January asking for artists to consider what unity means to them. “It was super important for Ashleigh and I to keep the theme relatively broad in order to encourage participating artists to reflect on what makes them feel seen, supported, and cared for – without too many preconceptions,” Milner tells Dazed. “The title is a play on words,” says Kane. “It’s about encouraging people to consider their role in acts of unity and to situate themselves in it.”
“We wanted to ensure that different stories were being told from various places around the world,” Kane elaborates. “The world can feel like a dark place, and we were looking for lights shining from different communities globally. The beauty in the selection of works is that, as a whole, it shows not just the big moments of unity but the small ones too.”
“The world can feel like a dark place, and we were looking for lights shining from different communities globally” – Ashleigh Kane
Amid the images of celebration, there exists a poignant reminder of the world’s challenges, fraught with conflict. Kane tells Dazed: “I’ve been thinking a lot about mutual care: how we can take care of those around us, and, in turn, how they can take care of us. Without sounding too cynical, it doesn’t feel like our governments are going to do that, so we need to ensure we are doing that for one another, now more than ever.”
Milner adds, “The last few years have been marked by multiple crises, yet, amid hardship and suffering, we’ve also seen inspirational calls for greater action and global solidarity... Even though each artist is making work from their own distinct perspective, I think that the show as a whole is a reminder that what we have in common is greater than what keeps us apart.”
At its core, the exhibition celebrates the tenderness in interdependence – an unwavering generational ideal, that also holds great potential in its ability to fix what has been broken. “I would love it if someone visiting the show just said hi to a stranger and made a new connection,” Kane tells us. “I hope it can be a reminder that there is still so much beauty that’s worth honouring, protecting, and ultimately, worth fighting for,” Milner concludes.
Below, we meet five of the artists featured in You Is For Unity and take a look at their wider practice beyond the exhibition.
“My name is Christopher and I’m a photographer based in Los Angeles. As someone who grew up as – and continues to be – a chronic daydreamer, I’m less interested in documenting real situations and more interested in capturing fleeting emotions and thoughts. The majority of my work deals with themes like softness and queerness and particularly being brown – things that terrified me growing up or felt impossible to reach. I think every gay brown person’s story is one of resilience. And while that’s not fair, I think there’s also something beautiful about maintaining softness and hope amidst a world that incessantly tries to strip us of that.”
“I’m a pretty sensitive person. I care deeply about the relationships in my life. Photography became a way to explore intimacy and warmth a bit deeper. I’d much rather get to have a conversation with whoever I’m shooting with and really get to know them as a person before trying to make something. A good conversation can keep me inspired for months. My work is constantly asking questions about community and where we find it. I watch a lot of movies and read a lot of books, which tend to inform the visual and deeper seeded themes that I find myself exploring.”
“I am fascinated by people and how we explore our differences, privileges, struggles, hopes and emotions. Through my work, I aim to offer a glimpse into everyday moments of joy, resilience, and solidarity. Growing up in Tamil Nadu, India, has deeply influenced my artistic vision, infusing my work with the vibrant colours, energy, and stories of my cultural background. [I believe that] fashion is not something that will only comfort white, rich, Western people. It is yours and mine. It’s everybody’s.”
“I’m a self-taught image maker from Ghana. I love to create cinematic scenes that illustrate the varying and new identities of my generation, capturing our dreams, fashions and evolutions. Masculinity is a major theme in my work. It helps me express what I and my peers navigate as young men in Ghana and the wider world. I would not be who I am without the communities to which I belong, so our unity is something I like to highlight in my work. And it would be a disservice to my mother and the other amazing and inspiring women around me, if I didn’t find ways to also explore womanhood. I’m also inspired by humanity and the ways in which people create connections in order to evolve.”
“I believe my work to be centred around beauty and aesthetics; individuals in moments of vulnerability, reflection, or self-affirmation. Each one of us has a story to tell and that fascinates me. I would say that the biggest theme is the pursuit of self-love. It’s not that I’m thinking about it constantly but it’s the result of everything I’ve done. For me, unity is both the shared human experience and also allowing others their unique individuality. It’s about not being afraid to be alone with one’s thoughts and feelings, but also about letting others in, loving and caring in this shared world we live in.”
You Is For Unity opens March 14 free of charge at the Photobook Cafe and continues until March 17. RSVP here to attend the opening night on March 14, 6-9pm.