Jessica Byrne

"I don’t ever remember wanting to be a photographer. I went to fashion college but couldn’t really sew so ended up studying fashion photography. I worked hard but hated everybody so rarely went to school, choosing instead to hang out in London’s Indie clubs with all the other weirdos. My boyfriend at the time was in a band so I spent a lot of time photographing them at various shows in shit-hole towns around the UK. I was catastrophically shy so I reckon the camera was a good thing for me to hide behind. After the demise of said relationship and his meteoric rise to fame I stopped taking photographs. Devoid of inspiration. I plonked the photos in boxes and they sat idle on various shelves in the many flats and houses I drifted between. For over a decade. On account of a bunch of stuff happening I recently decided to revisit these photos. There’s an innocence and naiveté in the images that precedes the Internet. No filters, no edits, no air-brushing apps. Every image is exactly how it came out the camera, when I could afford to have it developed. I’m currently studying towards a BA in Fine Arts in one of those aforementioned shit-hole towns in the UK. My practice looks at ways of re-imagining archival images through collage and hand drawn illustration. So whilst the subjects may have changed the ethos of the work I create today remains the same. Forever inspired by an anti- establishment Punk attitude of just go do it yourself."

IG: @fiveyears_onfilm

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