Being Young

What does it mean to be young? It is a time of becoming, a transient period in life, during which the innocence of childhood gradually fades as the joys and sorrows of adulthood begin to loom in the distance. It is a time of in-betweens and uncertainty, fragility and vulnerability; but it is also a time of hope and possibility, potential and promise.

In Being Young – Portraits of Becoming, photographer Wolfgang Strassl invites us to look closely and carefully at this fleeting yet formative chapter of life. Strassl's lens does not intrude, but instead, with a quiet sensitivity and gentle admiration, holds back and simply observes. His subjects seem to be aware that they are being seen for who they truly are and feel no need to perform or pretend. In these momentary encounters their openness, insecurity and self-assuredness surface simultaneously.

This series of portraits is a visual poem–a compilation of features and postures, glances and gestures. And, like youth, it is truly captivating.

Introduction by Simon Hill.

Wolfgang Strassl was born in Munich in 1956. He works and lives there still today but has also lived in Tel Aviv for almost a decade and now calls London his second home. As a photographer he has focused on social systems and the spaces and environments in which their transactions take place to the extent that they determine and reflect the characteristics and conditions of human interaction in the 21st century. His work has been widely exhibited. He has published several books, among them, also with Kerber, a documentary about East Jerusalem and a portrait study in London.