Generation Pink

These photographs are from a series I’ve been working on for the past four years. It’s a documentary project recording the overwhelming presence and popularity of the colour pink, within young girls lives, here in the UK. These particular photographs were taken on High Streets across Britain - Bristol, London and Cardiff. I started photographing girls in their own bedrooms, but my research behind the work forced me out onto the High Street with my camera. I came to the simple conclusion that pink sells. The colour pink is so so closely associated with femininely that we no longer question it, but it hasn’t always been this way. In the 19th century boys were traditionally dressed in pink. The advertising boom of the1950’s established pink’s association with femininity, although it wasn’t until the 80’s that pink was marketed directly to children. Since then the presence and popularity of the colour have grown in line with consumerism.

Photographing other people’s children in public is not an easy job. Parents are concerned about who will have access to their children’s image. I always ask the parents permission and explain what I’m doing, even so I’ve been asked to stop taking pictures and shouted for doing so. Many privately owned shopping centres also state that photography is prohibited, so I am often asked to move on. But photos such as these are essential to the is project, which will be published as a photo book later this year. At the end of January I will be launching a crowd funding campaign on Kickstarter. You’ll be able to preorder the book and back the project.

To see more of this work take a look at my blog kirstymackay.wordpress.com