ALYS TOMLINSON Lost Summer

Description

ALYS TOMLINSON Gli Isolani (The Islanders)

The Lost Summer portraits were taken between June and August 2020. With school proms cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Alys Tomlinson photographed local teenagers dressed in outfits they would have worn to prom. Instead of being in the usual settings of school halls or hotel function rooms, they were captured them in their gardens, backyards and local parks.

These young people are all aged between 15-19 years old. Many of them had their final exams cancelled and had nothing to mark this significant step in growing up and leaving school. The portraits were all taken locally in north London. They represent a loss and longing, but also celebrate each teenager as an individual, navigating this strange and challenging time.

The series consists of 44 portraits.

Three portraits from the series were awarded 1st Prize in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2020.

Alys Tomlinson

Alys Tomlinson is an editorial and fine art documentary photographer based in London.

Having grown up in Brighton, Alys went on to study English Literature and Communications at the University of Leeds. After graduating, she moved to New York for a year and was given her first commission for Time Out, before coming back to London to study photography at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. She recently completed a part-time MA in Anthropology of Travel, Tourism and Pilgrimage (Distinction) at SOAS, University of London, which ties in with her long-term, personal project about pilgrimage.

Her book Ex-Voto was published by GOST Books in 2019 and she has just self-published her latest book Lost Summer. Alys combines commissioned work for editorial, design and advertising clients with personal work, which she publishes and exhibits. Alys is currently working on a feature-length documentary film called Mother Vera, which she is co-directing with Cécile Embleton.