Vinca Petersen
{{Short description|British photographer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Vinca Petersen (born {{circa}} 1973){{cite web|accessdate=2020-09-04|title=A candid look at the '90s rave scene through the eyes of a female photographer|url=https://www.vogue.in/culture-and-living/content/vinca-petersen-the-model-and-photographer-who-documented-the-90s-rave-scene|website=Vogue India|date=6 July 2019}}{{cite web|first1=Frankie|last1=Dunn|accessdate=2020-09-04|title=witness the unseen side of 90s rave culture|url=https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/wjv37q/witness-the-unseen-side-of-90s-rave-culture|date=15 July 2019|website=i-D}} is a British photographer and artist, living on the Isle of Skye.https://edelassanti.com/usr/library/documents/main/vinca-petersen-cv-2022.pdf Her photography book No System documents her life in the 1990s, travelling around Europe with sound systems, putting on free parties. Petersen's work has been shown in group exhibitions at Tate Modern, Turner Contemporary and Saatchi Gallery, and is held in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum,{{cite web|accessdate=2020-09-04|title=Search the Collections|url=http://collections.vam.ac.uk/name/petersen-vinca/A5690/|website=Victoria and Albert Museum}} National Portrait Gallery, London{{cite web|access-date=2022-12-30|title=Vinca Petersen - National Portrait Gallery|url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp166768/vinca-petersen|website=www.npg.org.uk}} and Arts Council Collection.{{cite web|access-date=2022-12-30|title=Announcing Our New Acquisitions 2021-22 - Arts Council Collection|url=https://artscouncilcollection.org.uk/news/announcing-our-new-acquisitions-2021-22|website=artscouncilcollection.org.uk}}
Life and work
Petersen was born in Seoul, South Korea. She lived in Romania and Sweden and then moved to the UK with her family at age six. She started taking photographs at about age 7.{{cite web|accessdate=2020-09-04|first1=Belle|last1=Hutton|title=The Story of Vinca Petersen's Cult (and Now Re-Published) Book, No System|url=https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/12514/vinca-petersens-no-system-book-1999-2nd-edition-2020-interview|date=14 May 2020|website=AnOther}} In 1989 she left home, aged seventeen, and moved into a squat in London.{{cite web|accessdate=2020-09-04|first1=Sheryl|last1=Garratt|title=Meet the photographer who chronicled the raves of '90s-era Europe|url=https://aperture.org/blog/system/|date=8 September 2016|website=Aperture Foundation NY}} She worked as a model, appearing in i-D and The Face.
In 1994 Petersen bought a campervan. Between then and 2004, she travelled around Europe with various sound systems, putting on free parties. She occasionally returned to London for modeling work. While on the road she made diaristic photographs, encouraged by her friend the photographer Corinne Day. Photographs from this period in the 1990s were collected in the book No System (1999).{{cite news|first1=Tim|last1=Adams|accessdate=2020-09-04|title=The big picture: a pre-millennium party animal|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jul/26/the-big-picture-a-pre-millennium-party-animal|newspaper=The Guardian|date=26 July 2020|issn=0261-3077}}{{cite web|accessdate=2020-09-04|title=Capturing ten years of Europe's illegal raves|url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/photography/article/25759/1/capturing-10-years-of-europe-s-illegal-raves|date=4 August 2015|website=Dazed}} The work is distinctive for its proximity to the subject; photography by people within the rave scene at the time was uncommon, with cameras discouraged due to the illegal nature of some activities.{{cite web|accessdate=2020-09-04|first1=Claire|last1=Marie Healy|title=Unseen, unreal moments from the diaries of a 90s raver|url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/38335/1/future-fantasy-vinca-petersen-ben-freeman-ditto-90s-00s|date=7 December 2017|website=Dazed}}
Drawing from her archive, Future Fantasy (2017) is a collection of photographs from Petersen's life aged 16 to 24 as well as flyers, love letters and other ephemera. It also includes photographs by Day of Petersen, and artwork by Ben Freeman (AKA Ben Ditto).{{cite web|accessdate=2020-09-06|title=Vinca Petersen reminisces about good times with Corinne Day in 90s London|url=https://hero-magazine.com/article/110725/vinca-petersen-reminisces-about-good-times-with-corinne-day-in-90s-london/|website=Hero}}{{cite web|accessdate=2020-09-04|title=Modelling, Raving and Squatting: Vinca Petersen's Diary of the 1990s|url=https://www.anothermanmag.com/life-culture/10841/future-fantasy-vinca-peterson-second-edition-ditto-2019-interview-rave|website=AnotherMan|date=3 June 2019 }}
Deuce and a Quarter (2018) documents a US road trip that Petersen made with Day, Rosemary Ferguson and Susie Babchick in 1999.{{cite web|accessdate=2020-09-04|title=Four Women and a 'Deuce and a Quarter': A 1999 Roadtrip, in Photographs|url=https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/11218/four-women-and-a-deuce-and-a-quarter-a-1999-roadtrip-in-photographs|date=1 October 2018|website=AnOther}} They drove a 1970s Buick Electra 225 from Houston to Austin, through the Texas Hill Country, down to the Mexican border and beyond.{{cite web|first1=Imogen|last1=Clark|accessdate=2021-02-12|title=Glass reviews Deuce and a Quarter by Vinca Petersen – The Glass Magazine|date=19 November 2018 |url=https://www.theglassmagazine.com/glass-reviews-deuce-and-a-quarter-by-vinca-peterson/}} The book's title is street lingo for the Electra 225.
{{as of|2020}} she lived in Ramsgate, where she co-founded a social art charity, Future Youth Project (FYP).{{cite web|accessdate=2020-09-04|first1=Vinca|last1=Petersen|title=Vinca Petersen: the roads that made me|url=https://www.ft.com/content/c5bd46fe-be24-11e9-b350-db00d509634e|website=Financial Times|date=15 August 2019 }} {{as of|2022}} she lived on the Isle of Skye.
Publications
- No System. Göttingen: Steidl, 1999. Photographs, letters, diary entries and notes by Petersen. Edited by Michael Mack. {{ISBN|9783882436457}}.
- London: Mack, 2020. {{ISBN|978-1527265639}}.
- Future Fantasy. London: Ditto, 2017. Photographs, flyers, letters and other ephemera by Petersen, with photographic contributions by Corinne Day, and artwork by Ben Freeman.
- London: Ditto, 2019. Edition of 1150 copies.{{cite web|accessdate=2020-09-04|title=Future Fantasy|url=https://shop.ditto-london.com/products/future-fantasy|website=Ditto}}
- Deuce and a Quarter. London: IDEA, 2018. Photographs by Petersen. Edition of 1000 copies.{{cite web|accessdate=2020-09-04|title=Vinca Petersen Deuce and a Quarter|url=https://www.ideanow.online/store/Vinca-Petersen-Deuce-and-a-Quarter-p116479628|website=IDEA Store}}
Group exhibitions
- Sweet Harmony: Rave | Today, Saatchi Gallery, London, 2019. Included Petersen's A Life of Subversive Joy.{{cite web|accessdate=2020-09-04|title="You Were Really Part of Something": Vinca Petersen Remembers the Rave Days|url=https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/11820/vinca-petersen-remembers-the-rave-days-sweet-harmony-rave-saatchi-gallery|date=12 July 2019|website=AnOther}}
- Seaside Photographed, Turner Contemporary, Margate, 2019
- Diaristic Photography and the Photobook, Tate Modern, London, 2019
Collections
Petersen's work is held in the following permanent collection:
- Arts Council Collection, UK
- National Portrait Gallery, London: 1 print (as of 30 December 2022)
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London: 4 prints (as of September 2020)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|vincapetersen.com}}
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYcLSiYl_WY "Sofa Sessions: Conversations with Martin Parr - Vinca Petersen"] at YouTube
- [https://hero-magazine.com/article/110725/vinca-petersen-reminisces-about-good-times-with-corinne-day-in-90s-london/ "Vinca Petersen reminisces about good times with Corinne Day in 90s London"]
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Category:20th-century squatters
Category:21st-century British women artists
Category:20th-century British photographers
Category:21st-century British photographers
Category:British women photographers