Aside from those who were lucky enough to be born into the bright lights of a big city, many of us spend our teenage years in a cloud of angst and rebellion, rejecting the small provincial town our lot assigned to us. But not so many of us turn that angst into an acclaimed photography series. This was the case for 25-year-old photographer Megan Doherty, who uses her camera and her friends as a vehicle to transport her away from the confines of growing up in the small city of Derry in Northern Ireland.
Stoned in Melanchol is the product of her frustrations, and after enjoying success as a zine, it has recently been published for the first time in its entirety by Sentata books. But this is not your average photobook — instead it’s a collection of A3 posters in a Rizla style pack. “I felt the loose feel really fitted the style of the work,” Doherty tells SLEEK. “I also like the idea that it’s more of a collection, rather than book. People can chop and change the images as they like, hold each one in their hands – it becomes much more personal to each individual in this way.” The poster format also reflects the themes of her cinematic, neon-lit series: it takes you back to pinning up aspirational scenes on your wall as a teenager, pining after a life more extraordinary than your ordinary reality.
If you do stick the posters on your wall, you would be forgiven for thinking you were adorning your bedroom with cosmopolitan scenes rather than documentary photographs of Doherty’s Derry hometown — her photographs are imbued with a glamorous, rebellious feel that seems more akin to late 20th century urban metropoles than noughties Northern Ireland. This disparity between the shooting location and the image’s dreamy aesthetic forms the crux of the series as Doherty aimed to construct a different reality inspired by the ‘80s and ‘90s films she sought solace in, including Lost in Translation, Paris, Texas and Buffalo 66. “I just loved the whole aesthetic and it really appealed to me, the whole kind of escapist vibe,” Doherty reveals over the phone. “When I watched them, I thought, uh, that’s where I want to be.” But rather than hot-footing it to Tokyo, Doherty instead brought the highlife to her hometown, staging scenes with her friends. “We would set out with a general idea and ended up living the adventures we were portraying,” she adds.
At its heart, Stoned in Melanchol chronicles intimate and effervescent moments of female friendship. Doherty documents her friends lurking around smoky, dim cafes, or piling into abandoned shopping trolleys, making themselves up in grimy bathrooms or undressing together amid creased bed sheets. Together, these images construct a playful vision of a misspent youth, tinged with hope and happiness, comfort and cool indifference. Doherty’s subjects don quirky outfits — think baby pink PVC boots worn with fishnets, or fur coats and oversized shades — and although Doherty admits to a love of fashion (having worked on editorials for New York Magazine) she cites cult photographer Nan Goldin as one of her biggest inspirations. “Her work is so raw and personal,” Doherty tells us. “I’d never seen work like that before… [I was only used to] fashion photography, and the fact that she veered completely from that, I loved it.”
Constructing your own fictional reality to escape from the less magical truth is comparable to how people use social media platforms, especially Instagram, to curate their lives. Doherty, however, insists that her artistic motivations are far removed from the cyber-centric society we find ourselves in. “Some people are really fixated on the whole technology side of things… whereas I’m kind of going in a backwards direction,” she muses. “I particularly focus on a ‘90s vibe in my work, going back in time rather than focusing on now. And again, that’s another kind of escapism, because of the shitty world we live in at the minute.”
But the escapism Doherty describes is not just personal, as the success of her 2017 exhibition at Void Gallery in Derry – projected in a filmic style to the sound of Brooklyn-based ambient pop group Cigarettes after Sex — proved that she isn’t the only one looking to escape the dark shadow hanging over the Northern Irish town. “People loved it, because in Derry you don’t get a lot of young artists exhibiting,” admits Doherty. “We have a lot of history with the Troubles, so a lot of artworks are about that. We’re used to a grim blanket surrounding Derry, so it was nice to have a change with this exhibition.” She also says that displaying her more modern work has inspired a new generation of Northern Irish artists. “People are creating collectives now and really pushing their work… it’s really cool.” So maybe we can expect to see more photo series and artworks emerge from Derry in the coming years? We can from Doherty anyway, who admits she has a new-found love of the town she previously felt trapped in. “By going away and coming back, you realize you know this place so well and you can use it to your advantage,” reflects the photographer. “I think there’s another project waiting here for me — some of the best projects come out of having a personal connection to places, you can find stories within them.”
Stoned in Melanchol is available now from Setanta Books.
All images courtesy of Megan Doherty.