One of the most young talented photographers in NYC, Sean Vegezzi (You can find an interview with him on the issue 7 of posi+tive) relased his first book – “I Don’t Warna Grow Up”, published by Fourteen-Nineteen.
About the book:
“…I believe in these young boys, ever-scrutinised within undefined spaces, each of them embodying the impossibility of innocence lost. We consider spaces that loom so large, yet easily become forgotten.” – Abeline Cohen
Starting in 2000 Vegezzi began documenting his explorations in New York City. Vegezzi and his companions traversed unused but guarded spaces of the city. Wandering through abandoned subway tunnels, constructions sites, alleyways, rooftops and other spaces of abject industrial insignificance, Vegezzi struck out for the liminal and in between spaces of his environment.
Vegezzi’s photographs both document this experience and immortalise the adventurous spirit of adolescence. I Don’t Warna Grow Up could be a mantra for his subjects who are mostly wandering boys on a search for the sake of searching. There is a restlessness to Vegezzi’s images, a seemingly insatiable desire to rearrange the city before them, contrasted to the unfulfilled spaces they find. New York City is a vast network of boundaries both physical and socio-economic, but the magic of youth is found in the lack of reverence for those boundaries.
In one of Vegezzi’s most iconic images, a lone figure stands in the middle of an enormous underground construction site. It appears to be a project of epic scale. Construction equipment and material litter the site as the lone figure stands in the glow of high-powered work lamps. Vegezzi’s figure stands here in wonder. He is a portrait of defiance; curious and unafraid. He is alone, in his own space, underneath the entire world.
I DON’T WARNA GROW UP from Fourteen-Nineteen on Vimeo.
