Aspirations by Les Monoghan

2014

From Les Monoghan’s Blog: http://aspirationsdoncaster.blogspot.com

Aspirations is a solution to a particular documentary dilemma – that of fairly representing people and place. To represent a borough of over 300,000 people Les made over 600 environmental portraits. Whilst there are some sections of society missing - those under 3, children excluded from school or in care (work with these groups can be seen in The Desire Project) - there are adults from all generations who act as carers for young people, so we do see grand- and great grand parents, single adults, and those without children. The focus, though, is primarily on education and young people's development, an area where politicians bandy around the catch-all term, 'aspirations', as if it were an individual right common to us all, unfettered by class, background and who your parents are, just waiting to be tapped by education, education, education.

The portraits are all of a young person sat next to a parent or carer in a location that is shaping their aspirations, often a school, club or sports venue. The texts embedded within the images are the young person's aspiration for the future and their parent or carer's corresponding aspiration at a similar age. This combination aims to provide a history of the town’s hopes for the future whilst reflecting its past within a document of the present. Themes of community, class, work, social mobility, education, parenting, pose, fashion, society, history, habitus and familial likeness are all contained within the simple premise.

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