Ewen Spencer
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Ewen Spencer (born 1971) is a British photographer and filmmaker based in Brighton, England. His photography is primarily of youth and subcultures. He began his career working for style, music and culture magazines ''The Face'' and ''
Sleazenation ''Sleazenation'' was a monthly London based fashion, lifestyle and “'post-drug culture' magazine according to founding editor Steve Beale in 1999". The publication was co-founded by Jon Swinstead and Adam Dewhurst and published by Swinstead Publ ...
'' and has since joined groups of young people and musicians to make personal projects, as well as making films for
Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album '' Blue Lines'' was releas ...
,
The Streets The Streets are an English music project led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner. The project has released six studio albums: ''Original Pirate Material'' (2002), '' A Grand Don't Come for Free'' (2004), '' The Hardest Way to ...
and the Charlatans and undertaking commercial work. His books include ''Open Mic'' (2005), ''UKG'' (2013), ''Young Love'' (2017), and ''While you Were Sleeping'' (2022).


Life and work


Photography

Spencer studied editorial photography under photographers
Paul Reas Paul Reas (born 1955) is a British social documentary photographer and university lecturer. He is best known for photographing consumerism in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s. Reas has produced the books ''I Can Help'' (1988), ''Flogging a Dead ...
and
Mark Power Mark Power (born 1959) is a British photographer. He is a member of Magnum Photos and Professor of Photography in The Faculty of Arts and Architecture at the University of Brighton.University of Brighton The University of Brighton is a public university based on four campuses in Brighton and Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achiev ...
. He graduated in 1997. In 1999 he worked photographing nightlife, such as the
UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. It ...
scene, for fashion and lifestyle magazine ''
Sleazenation ''Sleazenation'' was a monthly London based fashion, lifestyle and “'post-drug culture' magazine according to founding editor Steve Beale in 1999". The publication was co-founded by Jon Swinstead and Adam Dewhurst and published by Swinstead Publ ...
''. Between 2001 and 2005 Spencer photographed the American rock band
The White Stripes The White Stripes were an American rock duo from Detroit formed in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (songwriter, vocals, guitar, piano, and mandolin) and Meg White (drums and vocals). After releasing several singles and three albums wit ...
. Initially for the ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'', he photographed shows from their first UK tour onwards, including candid backstage photographs. In 2010 he self-published ''Three's a Crowd,'' documenting the early stages of the band's rise to popularity. In 2002 photographer Martin Parr tipped Spencer as the most promising newcomer of that year. Spencer has also photographed London's
grime music Grime is a genre of electronic music that emerged in London in the early 2000s. It developed out of the earlier UK dance style UK garage, and draws influences from jungle, dancehall, and hip hop. The style is typified by rapid, syncopated brea ...
, which resulted in his book ''Open Mic'', which was awarded a Yellow Pencil certificate for photographic publishing by
D&AD Design and Art Direction (D&AD), formerly known as British Design and Art Direction, is a British educational organisation that was created in 1962 to promote excellence in design and advertising. Its main offices are in Spitalfields in London. I ...
in 2005. In his introduction to ''Open Mic'', Martin Parr wrote:
Ewen Spencer has already established his reputation, in recent years, as a photographer of much talent with his work on youth culture, but now he turns his attention to the 'grime' music scene in London... This is where Spencer's quality as a photographer really begins to work. He has thrown himself into this whole scene with such enthusiasm and dedication that he has won over the confidence of the key players on the grime circuit. This demonstrates how the potential magic of contemporary photography begins to operate. Because Spencer's photography is so compelling, the viewer begins to understand what attracted him in the first place... This scene is about energy... Ewen Spencer's photographs are also about energy, making visual sense of the wonderful anarchy of grime. Spencer brings the same raw passion to his photographs; I think those who view them benefit from this engagement.
Writing for the ''Huffington Post'' in 2012, Alice Vincent said "it is his photography from the front line of genuine youth culture that are the most striking. The rituals of sex and socialising are prominent, with Spencer's images seeming to be captured by an invisible voyeur." In a 2012 interview for ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', Spencer named
Dick Hebdige Dick Hebdige (born 1951) is an expatriate British media theorist and sociologist, and a professor of art and media studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His work is commonly associated with the study of subcultures, and its ...
, Tom Wood, and
Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Townsh ...
as influences. In 2013, GOST published Spencer's book of photographs of UK garage, ''UKG''. Writing in ''The Guardian'', Mike Skinner wrote of ''UKG'' that:
Ewen's photographs start when the scene was moving at its fastest, and go right up to Moving Too Fast. The first thing I wondered when I saw them was how he didn't get beaten up for snapping such intimate moments of some pretty certified-looking badmen. But my second, more lasting impression was how much more rich in detail they were than my fading typecast memory. . . . But the important and exciting thing about Ewen's photos are that they take you back to the real thing. . . .
In 2016 he was commissioned by
Photoworks Photoworks is a UK development agency dedicated to photography, based in Brighton, England and founded in 1995.
and Fabrica to produce a body of work for Brighton Photo Biennial. With ''Kick over the statues'' Spencer's intention was to re-establish a belief in youth tribes and style. Young Londoners were cast along the route of the August 2016 Notting Hill Carnival and against locations in Liverpool. These cities celebrate and enhance the idea of a UK diaspora, through style and cultural background with an association to music and culture that recalls the history of British subcultures and invents its own contemporary incarnations. The gallery installation resembled a snapshot of how photography is often encountered in the streets of a modern city. Large format images posted onto custom-built billboards are supplemented with music and projected images. His photography has appeared in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' and he has worked for the ''NME'', ''The Face'', Nike, Apple, Smirnoff, Footlocker, JD Sports, Sony, Reebok, T-Mobile, Toyota, Vodafone and Channel 4 (photographing on the set of E4's series ''Skins''). He took the inner liner photographs for the album ''
Original Pirate Material ''Original Pirate Material'' is the debut studio album by English hip hop project the Streets, released on 25 March 2002. Recorded mostly in a south London house rented at the time by principal member Mike Skinner, the album is musically influ ...
'' by
The Streets The Streets are an English music project led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner. The project has released six studio albums: ''Original Pirate Material'' (2002), '' A Grand Don't Come for Free'' (2004), '' The Hardest Way to ...
.


Short film directing

Spencer's ''Brandy & Coke'' (2014), about UK garage, was broadcast on Channel 4 in 2014 as part of the first of their ''Music Nation'' music documentary series with ''Dazed''. Writing in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' in 2014, Sam Richards called it "excellent". ''Open Mic'' (2014), about grime music, was broadcast in the second series. Ellen E. Jones, writing in ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' in 2014, said "There are enough ideas in 'Open Mic', the opening film from Ewen Spencer, to justify a whole series of films on grime music alone." In 2015 Spencer was commissioned by '' i-D'' to make a four-part series for Channel 4, ''Street, Sound and Style,''Web page about ''Street, Sound and Style'', Channel 4.
/ref> describing how music and street style subcultures have changed the face of British pop culture.


Publications


Books of work by Spencer

* ''Open Mic''. Self-published, 2005. . Photographs of young people involved in the Grime music scene in London. Introductions by Martin Parr and Mike Skinner.Its website i

* ''UKG''. London: GOST, 2013. . Photographs of people involved in UK garage music. Edition of 1,000 copies. With an essay by Jason Evans (photographer), Jason Evans, "Meanwhile, on the Other Side of Town".Its web page i

*''Open Mic Vol.2''. Brighton: See-W, 2014. . Edition of 500 copies. Additional photographs from his ''Open Mic'' series plus interviews made for the film ''Open Mic'' (2014) with
DJ Slimzee Dean Fullman (born 20 June 1978), best known by his stage name DJ Slimzee, is an English DJ who currently hosts a show on Rinse FM, returning from his previous show on NTS. He is best known for his show on pirate radio station Rinse FM in the e ...
,
Dizzee Rascal Dylan Kwabena Mills (born 18 September 1984), better known by his stage name Dizzee Rascal, is a British MC and rapper. A pioneer of grime music, his work has also incorporated elements of UK garage, bassline, British hip hop, and R&B. D ...
,
Kano Kano may refer to: Places *Kano State, a state in Northern Nigeria * Kano (city), a city in Nigeria, and the capital of Kano State **Kingdom of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between the 10th and 14th centuries **Sultanate of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between ...
,
Lethal B Maxwell Owusu Ansah (born 14 September 1984), known by his stage name Lethal Bizzle, is a British rapper from Walthamstow, London, of Ghanaian origin. He emerged in 2002 as a Grime (music genre), grime MC as part of More Fire Crew, with their g ...
,
Newham Generals Newham Generals are a grime duo from East London, currently consisting of MCs D Double E and Footsie. They are best known for their singles "Frontline", "Hard" and "Like It Or Not" as well as their live performances. The group was founded i ...
,
Jammer Jammer may refer to: Signal blocking devices * Radar jammer, a device used in radar jamming and deception * Radio jammer, a device used in radio jamming * Radio-controlled Improvised Explosive Device jammer, a counter-IED device * Mobile phon ...
, JME, Ratty (Lord of the Mics) and
Logan Sama Logan Sama is an English Grime DJ from Brentwood, Essex. He has appeared regularly throughout his career on radio stations Rinse, Kiss 100 and BBC Radio 1. He also currently runs the record labels Adamantium Music, Earth616 and KeepinItGrim ...
. *''Young Love''. London: Stanley Barker, 2017. . Edition of 1000 copies. *''While you Were Sleeping: 1998–2000''. Bologna, Italy: Damiani, 2022. . With text by Elaine Constantine and an interview with Justin Quirk.


Booklets of work by Spencer

* ''Three's a Crowd Vol. 1.'' Self-published, 2010. Edition of 500 copies. Photographs of The White Stripes.Its website i

* ''Three's a Crowd Vol. 2.'' Self-published, 2011. . Photographs of The White Stripes.Its website i

* ''Guapamente'' (issue 1). Self-published, 2013. . Photographs of young people in Naples, Italy. Edition of 300 copies. * ''Guapamente'' (issue 2). Self-published, 2014. Photographs of young people in Marseille, France. Edition of 300 copies. * ''Guapamente'' (issue 3). Self-published, 2014. . Photographs of young people in Miami, FL. Edition of 300 copies. * ''Guapamente'' (issue 4). Brighton: See-W, 2015. . Photographs of Roller skating, roller skaters in London. Edition of 300 copies. * ''Guapamente'' (issue 5): ''Bring, Come, Punish.'' Brighton: ES Books. . Edition of 200 copies


Publications with contributions by Spencer

* ''HOST Portfolio'', 8 Magazine, Issue 24: ''Resistance'', Foto8, 2008.It is available to read a


Films

*''Brandy & Coke'', 2013. 8 m short. Directed by Ewen Spencer, produced by Denna Cartamkhoob, for
Dazed ''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a bi-monthly British style magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. Dazed is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for producing ...
Brandy & Coke (8 m version) is available to watch at Daze
here
*''Brandy & Coke'', 2014. 22 m short. Directed by Ewen Spencer, produced by Denna Cartamkhoob and Adam FarleyBrandy & Coke (22 m version) is available to watch on Vime
here
*''Open Mic'', 2014. 23 m short. Directed by Ewen Spencer. Commissioned by
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
as part of the Music Nation series.Open Mic is available to watch at Daze
here
* ''Jam and Cheese'', 2015. 7 m short. Directed by Ewen Spencer. Commissioned by Dazed.Jam and Cheese is available to watch at Daze
here
* ''Street, Sound and Style'', 2015. Four episodes, each 23 m short. Directed by Ewen Spencer, produced by Oz Thakkar. Commissioned by i-D.Street, Sound and Style is available to watch at i-
here
* ''The Business of Grime'', 2016, 20m short. Directed by Ewen Spencer, produced by Oz Thakkar and Youern. Commissioned b
GQ


Exhibitions


Solo exhibitions

* ''Three's a Crowd'', KK Outlet, London, 2011 * ''Teenagers'',
Third Floor Gallery Third Floor Gallery was an independent charitable photography gallery in Cardiff Bay, Wales. It opened in 2010 and predominantly featured documentary photography, often premiering new work with the direct involvement of the photographers. It clo ...
, Cardiff, 2012 * ''England's Dreaming'', White Cloth Gallery, Leeds, 2012 * ''Brandy & Coke'', Create Studios, Brighton, 2013 * ''UKG'' and screenings of ''Open Mic'' and ''Brandy & Coke'', Wieden+Kennedy, Amsterdam, 2014 * ''Kick Over the Statues'', co-commissioned by
Photoworks Photoworks is a UK development agency dedicated to photography, based in Brighton, England and founded in 1995.
and Fabrica for Brighton Photo Biennial, Fabrica Gallery, Brighton, 2016; Hassell, London, 2017


Group exhibitions

* ''Facing Youth'', Museum de Imagem (as part of Encontras de Imagem festival), Braga, Portugal, 2012 * ''We Want More: Image-Making and Music in the 21st Century,''
The Photographers' Gallery The Photographers' Gallery was founded in London by Sue Davies opening on 14 January 1971, as the first public gallery in the United Kingdom devoted solely to photography. It is also home to the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, established i ...
, London, 2015. With
Roger Ballen Roger Ballen (born April 11, 1950) is an American artist living in Johannesburg, South Africa, and working in its surrounds since the 1970s. His oeuvre, which spans five decades, began with the documentary photography field but evolved into the ...
,
Pep Bonet Pep is energy or high spirits; it may refer to: * Pep band, an ensemble of instrumentalists * Pep, the dog in ''Putt-Putt'' (series) * Neilson Dairy confectionery brand * Pep, New Mexico * Pep, Texas * Pep Cereal, by Kellogg * Pep Comics, by MLJ ...
, Deirdre O'Callaghan, Daniel Cohen, Jason Evans (photographer), Jason Evans, Ryan Enn Hughes,
Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin Inez van Lamsweerde (born 25 September 1963) and Vinoodh Matadin (born 29 September 1961) are a Dutch-American Fashion photography, fashion photographer duo, whose work has been featured in fashion magazines and advertising campaigns. They also pr ...
, Gareth McConnell,
Ryan McGinley Ryan McGinley (born October 17, 1977) is an American photographer living in New York City. McGinley began making photographs in 1998. In 2003, at the age of 25, he was one of the youngest artists to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of Ameri ...
, James Mollison, Lorena Turner and Dan Wilton * ''We Also Dance'',
Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków The Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków (MOCAK), ( pl, links=no, Muzeum Sztuki Współczesnej w Krakowie), is a contemporary art gallery in Kraków, Poland that opened on 19 May 2011. Situated 3 kilometres from the centre of the city, on a demo ...
, Krakow Photmonth, Krakow, Poland, June 2017, with Phil Collins, Elaine Constantine, Denis Darzacq, Stéphane Degoutin & Gwenola Wagon,
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen (born 1948) is a Finnish photographer who has worked in Britain since the 1960s.Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen (ed. Andrew Pulver),Photographer Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen's best shot, ''The Guardian,'' 12 August 2009. Accessed 11 Nove ...
, Zarina Muhammad, Morten Nilsson, Spencer, Vojtěch Veškrna, and
Gillian Wearing Gillian Wearing CBE, RA (born 10 December 1963) is an English conceptual artist, one of the Young British Artists, and winner of the 1997 Turner Prize. In 2007 Wearing was elected as lifetime member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He ...
. Curated by Gordon MacDonald


Notes


References


External links

*
''Three's a Crowd'' – interview at ''i-D''

From Stills to Motion at the ''British Journal of Photography''
(video)
Interview at ''It's Nice That''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Ewen 1971 births Photographers from Sussex Living people Alumni of the University of Brighton People from Brighton Social documentary photographers