The photographs in “It’s Called Ffasiwn,” opening today at the Martin Parr Foundation, are a hybrid of social documentary, fashion, portraiture, performance, and landscape. A collaboration between photographer Clémentine Schneidermann and art director Charlotte James, the series is shot in an economically challenged region of South Wales called the “Valleys.”

The photographs feature local youth in clothing they’ve made themselves, captured in surreal feeling situations. Juxtaposed with the muted tones of their surroundings, the children’s bright clothing calls attention to the vulnerabilities of childhood dreams in the face of reality. The disappearance of the coal mining industry in the 1980s has had a long-lasting effect on opportunities and growth in the Valleys’ small towns.

Schneidermann, who is originally from Paris, met James met in 2015. James, who is from the Valleys’ largest town, Merthyr Tydfil, had already been working on photography projects that incorporated local youth. Together, Schneidermann and James established fashion focused workshops in two youth centers. The workshop participants, aged 8-14, learn fashion industry skills and gain insights into the creative processes, allowing them to explore self-expression and idea generation, which in turn develop their confidence and self-esteem. Then, Schneidermann and James photograph the participants wearing their creations.

Through running the workshops and collaborating on “It’s Called Ffasiwn” with young locals, James and Schneidermann aim to subvert stereotypes of working-class Valleys towns and their residents.

“The photographs show that while the Valleys wear the marks of time, they’re no match for the elixir and hope of a new generation – the project is a celebration of this,” write Schneidermann and James in a statement released by the Martin Parr Foundation.

The title of the series came about after the first workshop and fashion shoot. The young women were outside dressed up in the costumes they had made and some nearby boys started teasing them. Instead of being put off, the girls shouted back “It’s called fashion, look it up!”. Ffasiwn means “fashion” in Welsh.

A zine of the project will be published to accompany the exhibition.

On May 7, 2019, at the Martin Parr Foundation, Schneidermann and James will be in conversation with Lucy Kumara Moore, Director of Claire de Rouen Bookshop, curator and writer on contemporary art, photography and fashion.

“It’s Called Ffasiwn”
By Clémentine Schneidermann and Charlotte James
Martin Parr Foundation
March 27-May 25, 2019