{"id":1042605,"date":"2025-12-11T13:32:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T10:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1042605"},"modified":"2025-12-11T13:32:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T10:32:00","slug":"this-zine-shines-a-light-on-the-shadows-of-brightons-teenagers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1042605","title":{"rendered":"This zine shines a light on the shadows of Brighton\u2019s teenagers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
Chus and Greg, Brighteens<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n
\n
\n
\"Chus<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
\"Chus<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
\"Chus<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
\"Chus<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
\"Chus<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
\"Chus<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Gallery \/ 29 images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

In an age of hyper-online spaces, teenagers are often framed as a generation adrift, their subcultures said to have flattened beyond recognition by social media. <\/span>Brighteens<\/span><\/em>, the zine documenting youth in Brighton, instead shows how youth culture has reshaped itself. For two summers, photographers <\/span>Chus and Greg<\/span><\/a> (AKA Chus Ant\u00f3n and\u00a0<\/span>Gr\u00e9gory Clavijo)<\/span> visited the seaside town, documenting teenagers in the thick of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike their previous projects \u2013 such as Peas<\/a><\/em> and Quaranteeen<\/a><\/em>, which often focused on subjects in major cities such as Paris and London \u2013 the pair were drawn to a smaller, more suburban setting. \u201cWe\u2019ve always loved Brighton. It\u2019s a city full of art, culture and music, where we can still feel those \u2018urban tribes\u2019 vibes. It\u2019s a place with a real sense of freedom where people don\u2019t really care about what others might think of them, how they dress or how they look,\u201d they explain.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"022\"<\/span><\/span>
Photography Chus & Greg<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

At the heart of <\/span>Brighteens<\/span><\/em> are best friends Elkka and Jay. \u201cWe chose these teens because they reminded us of our own coming of age… and we saw such a strong reflection of ourselves in them,\u201d the photographers share. This reflection of their own teenage experiences resonates throughout the project, mirrored in the teens\u2019 reappropriation of cultural references and symbols from past decades. \u201cIt\u2019s as if they would blend all these influences from the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, making them entirely their own \u2013 very contemporary, very 2025 at the same time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The aesthetics of punk, metal, and goth are a core motif of Brighteens<\/em>. The zine\u2019s design, led by Emily Schofield, purposefully emulates the DIY ethos of punk publications. The shots are moody, framed by greying skies and backdrops of weathered stone walls. Inside the pages are young faces are scattered in piercings, their hair often jet black or dyed, eyeliner is thick and heavy, with layered chains and wired earphones pooling around necks. It\u2019s a darkness that Chus and Greg feel is offset by their lightness. \u201cThis group of teens is quite goth\/punk\/emo, but at the same time, their personality and presence are bright and full of light,\u201d they explain, a duality that also inspired the zine\u2019s title.<\/span><\/p>\n

This closeness to the subjects means Brighteens<\/em> doesn\u2019t feel like a project captured from the outside. Shots of friends running through the winding Lanes, or leaning against railings, relay the sense that the photographers were part of the group. It\u2019s a trust the duo built carefully, allowing the project to remain free of voyeuristic perspective. \u201cWe just let them be who they are and make them forget that we’re even taking pictures,\u201d they explain.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"013\"<\/span><\/span>
Photography Chus & Greg<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

After a successful summer of documenting Brighton\u2019s youth culture, they returned to the city the following year, revisiting Elkka and Jay to continue the story. \u201cWe were also really interested in documenting them not at a specific moment in time but in a way that would show the passing of time, the changes, the whole \u2018work in progress\u2019 period that’s inherent to being a teenager,\u201d they explain. That sense of ongoing adolescence is mirrored in the photos themselves: friends dart along the shorefront, loiter on pavements, and lean into one another with the kind of closeness that feels uniquely comforting at 15 or 16.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brighteens<\/span><\/em> is not entirely a nostalgic project. The pair were keen to show how adolescence today is thriving, especially in a new ultra-digital world. \u201cThese teens show that a sense of belonging exists as much online as offline,\u201d the photographers explain. \u201cNowadays, many teenagers share the same interests and tastes on the internet before meeting in real life, which is something we found very interesting to document\u2026We realised urban tribes still exist, it’s just that the internet and social media have relocated and expanded them: part online, part physical, one can belong to different groups, not just one, and geography is no longer a boundary for urban tribes to spread out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"023\"<\/span><\/span>
Photography Chus & Greg<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

That openness is central to the project. \u201cThese teens are so open about societal questions such as gender, sexuality, and inclusivity. We grew up in small cities where that wasn\u2019t the case \u2013 many of these topics were quite taboo,\u201d they note. \u201cEverything was also much more compartmentalised when we were teenagers\u2026 This group of teenagers, though, play and have fun with all these influences. They switch styles according to their mood and how they feel. Nowadays, teenagers can float between groups. They might dress quite goth but still love listening to Tyler, the Creator.<\/a>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite all the talk about generational divides, what stands out most in <\/span>Brighteens<\/span><\/em> is its optimism. \u201cWhen we were doing <\/span>Brighteens<\/span><\/em>, we never felt a generation gap, quite the opposite,\u201d they say. \u201cTheir open-mindedness, understanding of the world we live in, and their inclusivity and openness regarding sexuality, gender, and cultural differences are so inspiring to us. We should give teenagers more voice; it would surely make the world a better place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Brighteens is available to buy here<\/a> now.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Source URL: https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/69268\/1\/this-zine-shines-a-light-on-the-shadows-of-brightons-teenagers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chus and Greg, Brighteens Gallery \/ 29 images In an age of hyper-online spaces, teenagers are often framed as a generation adrift, their subcultures said to have flattened beyond recognition by social media. Brighteens, the zine documenting youth in Brighton, instead shows how youth culture has reshaped itself. For two summers, photographers Chus and Greg […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[76],"class_list":["post-1042605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1042605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1042605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1042605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1042605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}