Every year, thousands gather during the last week of July to attend the Galway Races, Ireland’s historic horse racing event. The ensuing chaos provides cover for Galway’s youth to engage in a revelry of their own. However, with many not being old enough to attend night clubs or bars, they turn to public spaces to facilitate their hedonism. For one evening of the year, the youth take over.
Ironically, in attempting to imitate their elders, these young people only accentuate their youthful naivety. Their aspirational dress and exaggerated mannerisms betray the uncertainty of adolescence. Defiant yet vulnerable, debaucherous yet charming, these characters channel the many contradictions of the coming-of-age narrative.
36 pages, 14.8 × 21 cm, softcover, PhotoIreland (Dublin).