Deanna Templeton: What She Said

When I first glanced through this book, I thought, well, I guess this is not for me. These youngsters live in a world that is surely totally foreign and very likely incomprehensible to me, a retired man living in Switzerland. Yet for reasons unbeknownst to me, I again and again turned to the pictures that Deanna Templeton had taken, and the more time I spent with them the more it felt that the youngsters portrayed weren’t that different from youngsters of previous times about to discover their identity, looking for their purpose in life, trying not to feel too akward in their skin as well as sometimes feeling self-confident and just perfect.

Reading Deanna Templeton’s introduction seemed to confirm my ponderings, although her focus is different – to my utter amazement, I hadn’t realised that I had been almost exclusively looking at young girls. “Young girls today are living in a much different world than I did, but the experience of growing up female is universal no matter which era. I see my own struggles, disappointments and bravery in these women. I decided to take these modern portraits and pair them with my own teenage journal entries from 1984 to 1988, along with some of my flyers collected from the shows I went to that reflect the bands I was into during that time. As someone who survived a turbulent transition into adulthood, I hope that this look into my teen-aged mindset and adolescent traumas, paired with these modern girls evolving into adulthood, will convey the sense that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and we will be able to look back at our own youth and smile, remembering how intense life feels at that age.” 

For the full review, go here