JENNIE BAPTISTE
From Ragga to ray bans.
Jennie's love for music has always inspired her work. Shooting the 90's kids that were living in a pop-culture fueled world, she platformed people in ways that were different from the what the fashion mags were reproducing. "I formed a scrapbook cutting out images I liked from photographers. I probably had something like 10 scrapbooks by the time I got to a degree course and that was my way of looking at images and trying to encourage my own and seeing what I liked aesthetically. As a teenager I was buying magazines, music mags, smash hits, number ones, I was into pop music and it was the age of MTV."
We spoke to Jennie about how her love for music shines through in her work and desire to platform the people behind the sounds. From ragga to Ray Bans it was a time for dressing cool and soaking up all the sounds you could.
Interview and text by Esta Maffrett | 25.03.2022
How did you get into photography?
My mum gave me a camera as a present when I was 9 or 10 and we were always encouraged to photograph each other as a family. I got into photography whilst at school. I did GCSE photography with a few other students, the school had a dark room and a studio that we were fascinated by and my interest in photography grew from that. Also I was always interested in the creative industry and art as well.
Who or what were your influences?
I don’t know if I was a typical teenagers but I was heavily into music and youth culture. I used to go out in the morning and get the newspapers or sometimes they were delivered to us because our neighbour worked in Fleet Street. I would look through every one of them and I formed a scrapbook cutting out images I liked from photographers. I probably had something like 10 scrapbooks by the time I got to a degree course and that was my way of looking at images and trying to encourage my own and seeing what I liked aesthetically. As a teenager I was buying magazines, music mags, smash hits, number ones, I was into pop music and it was the age of MTV. I used to go to a lot of concerts, went to my first when I was 12 i think. I grew up in a family where they were all playing different genres so I was influenced by that. I’ve got three elder sisters who were playing reggae, calypso, rock and roll and so on, I guess that kind of helped shape me from a very young age. Visually I would look at the album covers of my older sister who I shared a room with, as I got older I paid attention to the credits on the record sleeves and was interested in how it was constructed.
I used to go down to HMV and get my 12 inch vinyl signed from various artists that would do live sessions in store. I decided that instead of being the usual fan getting a photo with the artist I would take a picture of the artist using my compact camera. I look back and i’ve got shots of people from that period I met when I was about 13 and I think all that kind of training was fundamental in developing my eye. Because you have limited time to take a photograph and then they move you along, I didn’t recognise at the time but looking back it was my first photographer point of action. Doing a shoot myself basically, under the constraints of time and when I couldn’t construct it - I enjoyed that. So those were my teenage that influenced me wanting to go into music photography further down the line and trying to identify my own style. When I did my GCSE photography I decided that I wanted to spend some time trying different aspects of photography to try and determine where my interest truly lied. For a short period of time I did hang out with paparazzi and found that it wasn’t for me because I like to get on with my subject and I like being creative as well. I started shooting portraits of friends, practicing techniques in terms of lighting and conceptual ideas that I had and then eventually I decided that was the direction I wanted to go in.
"As a photographer we have the opportunity to showcase a genre that isn’t necessarily being highlighted, maybe because it’s a minority group, we have that power, we have that eye, we have the camera and so it’s whatever story we choose to tell."
Fashion really goes hand in hand with music, was fashion something you’ve always cared about and have been interested in capturing?
When I started out in the mid 90’s, especially in Hip-Hop culture which was the genre I came into, fashion was a big part of it. Because it was all new back then, or at least relatively new because it had started in the late 80’s and by the 90’s it was growing. By the end of that decade it had grown enormously, it was a huge industry and I guess for me in terms of the images that I have taken in the past in relation to fashion they’re not constructed in the conventional way. In the sense that some of the sitters in my photographs are everyday people which is rare in a fashion shoot, sometimes that happened through the client, sometimes through me. I did a whole series on ragga because for me that was fashion that I wanted to show but wasn’t being shown during that time. I took it upon myself to do that because I was aware of that and I was aware that at some point mainstream culture would pick it up like they do and it would get staged so to speak. As a photographer we have the opportunity to showcase a genre that isn’t necessarily being highlighted, maybe because it’s a minority group, we have that power, we have that eye, we have the camera and so it’s whatever story we choose to tell. That’s been something that i’ve done throughout my career, in terms of personal projects that I feel need to be represented. It’s only in hindsight, now looking back that I’m able to say ‘okay, I was on to something’ because some of my photographs have stood the test of time more than 20 years later. I did always say to myself I wanted to be one of these photographers that produces iconic images because I spent a lot of time trying to perfect my eye by looking at images from photographers who had iconic images and were known for that. I would look at how they put together images that were pleasing to the eye, I spent a lot of time doing that through the scrapbooks and also because I had to, when i was on my degree course I couldn’t afford to buy 20 rolls or sometimes 3 rolls of film and shoot all of that in one day. I said to myself I need to train my eyes so I can get what I want in two or three rolls of film, medium format, and I guess that kind of discipline helps because I know no matter what I have to get something.
What drew you to the dancehall scene and how did you try to capture the life and vibrancy of that scene?
Back then I was looking to present it in a totally different way than what it had been presented in. This is like the earlier stuff I shot, back in like 93/94. I tapped in and out of that culture for more than a decade after that and I took these women from the scene into the studio which hadn’t been done at that time. It was lacking in the fashion magazines and I guess I wanted to see that kind of representation as well, back then that wasn’t done and so that’s how the idea came about. I think more than a decade later I shot Pinky at her home, in her living room which again was about juxtaposing the sitter in a setting that isn’t necessarily familiar for the viewer. Because what I had seen during that time was just a lot of people dancing in clubs which of course that happens but what about the other situations. These are normal people and putting them in a normal setting but with those vibrant clothes or bringing them into the studio, bringing that dance live into the studio is highlighting who they are. I think I was able to do that because of my love for music and allowing for that strong sense of identity. It stood out at the time because it wasn’t necessarily seen as a good thing. The response was why are you doing that? That it was throwaway culture and the magazines weren’t picking it up. But since i took those it has taken a life of its own in a sense, years later museums picked them up, the first series that I did on ragga was shown at the Black British Style exhibition at the V&A Museum in the year 2003. The V&A bought a few photographs of mine for their permanent collection, they’re able to delve into their archive when a certain exhibition comes around and decide what will speak for the exhibition. So they definitely have taken on a life of their own and survived several decades which with fashion photography it can date really quickly.
Your work is currently in the V&A menswear exhibition. Can you talk about the exhibition?
Yes. I have some photography in the Fashion & Masculinities: The Art of Menswear which opens and the V&A on Saturday 19th of March until the 6th of November. The exhibition itself is a first for the V&A in terms of it being a major exhibition to celebrate the diversity and artistry of masculine attire and appearance. It features paintings, sculptures, renaissance paintings, photography, film and performance. It’s a real interactive experience. They approached me and were interested in a particular photograph and I agreed. The whole concept is great because it’s menswear and the first major exhibition celebrating it within fashion which I was quite surprised about, that it was the first. That in itself is going to be really interesting and a real eye opener for a lot of people. It features another fellow photographer of mine who is also part of your archive; Normski, who is featured in the accompanying book. It’s going to look at designers, tailors, artists and clients and how the whole masculine image has been constructed and performed, that in itself is a really interesting conversation. There’s three sections, one is called undressed, one called dressed and one called overdressed.
Finally. If you could put one object into the Museum of Youth Culture what would it be and why?
Maybe some Ray Ban sunglasses. The reason I say that is because during the era when I was heavily into music and the whole MTV thing Ray Bans were really cool. I had some but I didn’t have the real Ray Bans. I guess if I'm thinking of something that depicts an error off the top of my head, I would say that.
