Phil Knott
Phil Knott has captured kids on wheels from London to LA. Growing up around scooter culture it’s always been something Phil was drawn to. The DIY culture and the creativity drawn out of necessity has provided an appreciation for other people’s messy creations; "I drove a scooter and they were all around me and where I used to live was like a fucking racetrack."
He has become most well known for his portrait photography, his ability to give us a completely unobstructed insight into an individual. However his work has also always centred young people and the culture’s of hanging out on hot summer days and owning the streets. It’s not surprising his interest in wheels and hand crafted rides took him to America where bikes push the aesthetically outrageous boundaries. We discussed the scooter kids, their rebellious nature and the youthful urge to create something out of nothing.
Interview and text by Esta Maffrett | 18.01.22
How did you get into photography?
I didn't want to get a job so I carried on from school to further ed and then to university sort of, but I just didn't want to get a proper job. And so I enjoyed doing art and I went to a BTEC College which was really good. That kind of showed me what was going on in photography. It had really good teachers and it was small so I learned a lot and got enthused by that. Then I went to university (to study photography and film) got disappointed and left. But the BTEC college was exceptionally fantastic, that really kind of made me want to do something although I didn't know what I was going to do with it afterwards. At University i found the teaching really disappointing and so used to spend all the time in the darkroom and speak to the store manager, I’d miss the lectures because I couldn’t be bothered, i’d spend all my time printing and whatnot.
Your images of youth really capture the vibrancy of friendship and hanging out with others, how does this work differ from your portraiture practice?
Well it's just that basically you have no choice. You record everything. You get a load of people together, like the scooter kids, and whatever happens you get it. Obviously you can corral them for a little portrait, but whatever happens you're recording them for the day so you're looking at all the little things. And the nice thing about when they're not being stood formally in front of you is people do things, I like capturing those real sort of moments. I like, you know, basically trying to get the truth out something rather than making something contrived. Because soon no matter what it is, as soon as you line somebody up for a picture, even if it's one of those sort of reportage portraits the subject will do something, will be aware that he's being photographed and actually stand in a way that is his best side or her best side or something. Rather than when you catch somebody, hopefully in their moment, which I think is really special.
Your photography of course covers street culture but there’s also a repetition of transport on the street, is this something you were looking to document or just happened to follow?
I drove a scooter and they were all around me and where I used to live was like a fucking racetrack. I’d been in this estate for years and I asked a couple of kids can I take some pictures, I did it for The Face, so it was just recording a day of scooter kids and because people I think knew me they were kind of cool about it. But I like the whole scooter thing because everybody comes from the estate and all around to join and it was quite magic. Just seeing all these little moments go off and people show off and perform, they almost forget about you. They seem to just interact with their peers when they’re doing something if you know what I mean, they find it funny between themselves, a little joke or something. You're shooting this realness going on. People don’t care that i’m there which I like, it’s not rude or belligerent but they’re not bothered like ‘Oh it’s for The Face, okay and what?’ So yeah, I do like getting the real thing. It has always been a working class thing to get around. The first thing the kids got was a scooter rather than a car, maybe because the money and whatnot or an aesthetic. I like these little kids with the L plates on, some of the kids that nick scooters to come and be in the shoot. One kid turned up with a screwdriver in the scooter, like oh you lost your keys did you. So yeah all these little kids from all over the different estates came to Globe Town for the day. It was fun.
"They don't care, they take over the whole road down Main Street doing wheelies in between cars and there's something lovely and rebellious about it. It’s harmless and silly sometimes, but it's quite lovely and rebellious, and it's very youthful"
Your portraits very much place the focus on the subject, you don’t want any distractions. But in these photos we have portraits of kids next to bikes almost bigger than them, the kid and the culture begin to merge.
I think it depends what you’re looking for. There’s a huge bike explosion at the moment in LA and probably in London as well. Over here in LA it’s huge, they meet at ice cream shops. There's a lot of kids on bikes and they don't give a fuck. I quite like the naughty little fuckers. They don't care, they take over the whole road down Main Street doing wheelies in between cars and there's something lovely and rebellious about it. It’s harmless and silly sometimes, but it's quite lovely and rebellious, and it's very youthful.
Every Sunday they meet downtown and do crazy things and then the motorbike kids come with no helmets, they must be about 15 or 16 driving these 125's all over town. There's something quite empowering about it. I like to see the youth doing things like this that are naughty I suppose it's rebellious and a way of expressing themselves. They don't cause any damage. Then you got the other bike kids who put petrol engines on the bikes. I made a little documentary in lockdown on these kids who put petrol engines on their bicycles. The kids that get a DWI and their licence gets taken away but they’ve got to get to work so they go to these people and they get petrol engines which are totally legal fit to their bike, no need for a licence. So they have these little whatever CC engines on their pushbikes and that gets them to their friends, their group. I like what people do with bikes. I like when people make an object to portray or make it personal if that makes sense. People customise things and they make it theirs rather than just a bike or a car. Suddenly with all these silly spoilers or whatever it becomes them, it’s a portrait I think. When people make their cars bad or terrible I like it because A it’s not mine and B because I find it interesting. For example the pushbike engines, some of the people dress like they’re motorbikers with jackets on but they’re not they’re on a push bike, they pedal off and the engine starts. People can take a Mazda and put all the spoilers on it, racing stickers and whatever and it just looks a mess, but the intent is there. Something rubbish to everyone else is is a Lamborghini or Harley Davidson in their mind. I like the personalization of transport and how it becomes one with the person. It becomes a portrait for me.
There’s something lovely in what people create when they’ve got no money. When they try and get something and make it into something else, in their minds it becomes something else. It’s a very youthful thing because it’s a very no money thing. People want to express themselves, they want to be something else. More is never enough. There’s this thing of ‘look at me, I exist’. I think everybody wants to exist and be seen and be known and to be validated. Or else you’d be quiet about it. I mean you have these noisy things, everybody stops and looks, they know the reaction they get. People stop and ask questions. Everybody wants to be noticed. Everybody wants to be seen sort of thing, and everybody wants to be accepted. So it must be, if you don't have much, it must be nice to be asked questions and admired and looked at even for even for the moment.
What is the attraction between being in a group and having wheels?
It’s that lack of money that always breeds a little creativity with what you've got. Of course, it's not the real thing but to you it's a real thing until it decides not to be a real thing. Maybe you grow up or something and you think well, nice try but now I can afford the real thing. There’s a culture of independence and a culture of wanting to be different, maybe from the mainstream. Look at the bikers, the Hells Angels or bike gangs, maybe they're naughty people, but it just looks so much fun cruising around on two wheels with a load of other idiots. It's just a perfect way to spend the summer. It does speak to tribleness. Maybe we like cliques, we form groups all the time, like minded people right. Maybe some people never want to do that settling down thing with a nice lawn, some day they think just give me my bike, I'm off. Maybe you have to get into bikes to really not want to lose it or something. Or do you do it for a while and that becomes a part of your youth and you become more normal with age? In brackets whatever normal is! I don't know but it's interesting. The customization and the personalization. Making something crap into something quite delightful and unique.
If you could put one object into the Museum of Youth Culture what would it be and why?
I'll probably put a petrol engine bike in there encased in resin. Like a block of resin lit up which would be fucking gorgeous. That or a Vespa taken to bits and encased in resin all the bits come apart like a model so you can see the bits, the panels and the engine. Something broken down but looks like a diagram. Like an illustration in a manual. They show the engine being broken apart next to each other and you work out that oh this is how you break an engine apart. There's something quite nice about the plans and if it's in resin that would cost a fortune but it would look fucking nice.
