Francis, age 17
Digital print
Cruel light exposes an infinite array of empty alcoholic beverages, the contents drained and only husks remain. A kaleidoscope forms hazy and disorienting illusions, inducing confusion. It’s almost as if we have emptied the bottles ourselves. I see Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère as a display of the collective and timeless obsession with alcohol. The bargoers of 19th-century Paris are not dissimilar to the nightlife population of the modern day. They laugh, socialise, relax, and most importantly, they drink. Alcohol continues to have dominion over social practices. I tried to capture this by using an arrangement of mirrors that would reflect the bottles infinitely; drinking is not a short-term phenomenon but is always prominent throughout life.