Joanne Crawford
Joanne Lives in Leeds and has recently completed a Ba in Photography at Leeds college of art and design.
Every weekend for the past eight months, as the shackles of the working week are thrown off and
British city centres inexorably descend into a fog of binge drinking and casual violence, Jo Crawford
has been stalking the floor of Flares nightclub in Leeds, camera in hand. Crawford works in the club
as a bartender. This relationship to her subjects is crucial; she is a guardian, a purveyor of alcohol,
occasionally (as all good bartenders are) a friend and confidante. She is also a willing participant
in the strange, nostalgic and distinctly irony-free party that takes place in the club, dropping her
camera to dance on the bar as her job requires.
Photographed with disposable cameras, these images resonate with a gritty snapshot aesthetic, but
looking past the flash and grime and drunken confusion of bodies, we can catch glimpses of human
interaction. Moments of genuine sweetness, affection and humour, and an unashamed sense of fun.
In her most affecting images, Crawford has captured something of the quiet loneliness of the British
Friday night. An unqualified longing that pervades the club as the night drags on and strangers cling
to each other before the lights come up. Regulars return in different images, one week grinning and
dancing, the next missing a tooth. Jo Crawford has photographed a side of us some might choose to
ignore, and it is to her credit that in the absence of good taste and sobriety, she has found a small
measure of humanity.
