Peter Dench considers... ‘Untitled 2016’, by Stephen Swain
One of the most influential photography books on my own photographic career is Looking For Love, photographs by Tom Wood of Chelsea Reach nightclub, New Brighton, Merseyside. The book was first published in 1989 by Cornerhouse Publications. I must have seen it shortly after. It taught me that you didn’t have to get on an airplane to the frontline of a foreign war to take photographs, you could just get on a bus and pop down the pub.
The cover photograph is an awkward and uncomfortable image of a man grappling with a woman, his lips planted on her ear as she turns away. Inside, the mainly colour photographs romp through the nightclub, the darkness ravaged by Wood’s raw flash exposing the sweaty guests he met along the way. There are hands on arse, heads on shoulders, hands on heads. There’s lip smacking and gob gobbling. Tongues in mouths, fags in mouths and copious pints of beer about to be poured into mouths. The hair is big, facial hair abundant, shirts unbuttoned, eyeshadow and denim blue. The lipstick is mainly pink. Most of the photographs are of 18-25 year olds taken between 1984 and 1987 when my teenage self was rigorously practicing and perfecting the smoochy-smoochy. It’s been a long time since I was in a nightclub and a long time since I’ve been able to openly peep at the affection of others.
This image is displayed in the photo zine, Love is the Sweetest Thing, published by Fistful of Books. The viewer colludes with photographer Stephen Swain as he gets up close and personal, the subjects oblivious to him and their surroundings. This modern scene of affection plays out near London’s Oxford Circus, where Swain likes to harvest public displays of affection. The fair-haired person in black top, skirt and tights balances with the dark-haired person with white top and jeans. Graffiti drools down the Tezenis lingerie brand store window. A white wash care label hangs from a jacket like the tongue of a thirsty dog.
It helps maintain focus and motivation when out photographing to have a keyword or phrase in mind to be mindful of what to look out for: reading in public, sleeping in public, running, twirling hair, yawning, holding hands, eating an ice cream, riding an electric scooter.
Swain’s image sits alongside those of Tom Wood’s Looking for Love, another for the pre-Covid pandemic visual archive when we lived, loved, lusted, hugged and kissed without hesitation or any thought of sanitisation. It’s an absorbing and touching image of courtship, a generational memory. I just wish we could see the shoes on their feet.
Peter Dench is a photographer, writer, curator and presenter based in London. He is one of the co-curators of Photo North in Harrogate and has been exhibited dozens of times. He has published a number of books including and Visit peterdench.com