There will always be young people and even though the political situation might change many challenges of their daily life will stay the same. - Toby Binder
Toby Binder is shortlisted in the Professional Daily Life category of the 2017 Sony World Photography Awards.
Toby studied at the Stuttgart Academy of Arts and Design, after gaining his degree in 2005, travelled to South America and Africa where he started to focus on social and environmental topics. Toby is based in Munich and Buenos Aires. He is member of Anzenberger Agency and represented by fotogloria.
Can you tell us about the context of your series?
A lot of my work is connected to young people in different ways. Child-labour in Bolivia, kids defamed as witches in Nigeria or children from areas of war coming to Germany for medical treatment. The youth is always the future of any society and nation. It is of great importance to turn the viewpoint on their hopes, fears and dreams.
Where did your ideas for the series come from?
Originally I focused on young guys playing football in the streets of Scotland. Starting from that I broadened my view on any kind of young people that are visible on the streets of different cities in the UK.
Why did you choose to shoot all the images in B&W?
Black & White has always has been an important part of my work, I shot all pictures for this series on 120 roll film.
How long do you see this series continuing for?
I just returned from a trip to Belfast to continue this series in the shadow of upcoming Brexit and don't think I will stop doing this. There will always be young people and even though the political situation might change many challenges of their daily life will stay the same. On the other hand a temporal context is often perceptible especially if you work on a topic for such a long period of time and it makes especially this series always involving the past and the future.
