Skinheads Unfiltered: A Successful Depiction of Culture Narrated by Owen Harvey

Skins & Suedes, Owen Harvey

“The subculture thing I really love, but it’s more about photographing people. It sounds super cheesy, but it’s about an exchange with someone. I’ve made really good friendships with people from taking photos, people that I never knew before. That’s really what I get from photography, it’s always been a super positive thing. My thing is people. I think it’s actually quite rare to find people who actually like dealing with people, a lot of people keep themselves to themselves, but I really really enjoy just dealing with people, and meeting people and photographing people, to me that is the best part of that, really.”

Owen Harvey is a London based photographer. With an interest in youth & subculture, his images often focus on the notion of individual identity and social groups. Harvey has made work for publications such as GQ, Vogue, Time Inc. BBC, Financial Times Magazine and has exhibited internationally.

Skinhead subculture has a long and complex history. The subculture drew influence from the earlier Mod style and originally had the music of Jamaican musicians in the 60's as it's soundtrack. Those involved in the subculture had a sense of working class pride and these attributes were often recognised in the white and black youth, who grew up across England. The skinhead style was often seen as an aggressive way of presenting yourself by the media, with short hair, rolled up jeans and footwear often referred to as "bovver boots". The distinct skinhead look went on to be adopted by neo-nazis and various other racist groups and many original skinheads felt it was time to abandon their style, due to association. Some skinheads refused to give up their style though and this caused a divide within the subculture of those with different political stances. As an outsider of the subculture, Harvey decided to photograph young men and woman within the current U.K scene, in order to try and learn what it means to be a skinhead in the present day.