“I’m the daddy now” is looking for teenage fathers across Britain from all cultures and classes to share their stories of becoming fathers so young.
The aim is to photograph up to fifty fathers of all ages, who became fathers as teenagers, together with their children. We could have a 90 year old with his 73 year old daughter, a 36 year old with a 20 year old son and fathers who have lost touch with their children. Photography commences in July 2009 and will culminate in an exhibition in 2010.
Jude Edginton became a teenage dad at age 18 and his daughter is now 21. The recent media frenzy over the 13 year old boy who allegedly fathered a son with a 15 year old girl, has brought the subject of teenage fathers to the forefront of British media attention. The Evening Standard headlined the story of the young couple “Broken Britain”.
Jude says “This headline really angered me. Being a young father is hard enough without being branded a failure by the nation. This project will set out to find a different story. Yes life will be hard for any young father but life will be twice as hard for the kids of young parents if teen dads fall through the gaps and give up. Many young fathers will be trying to love their kids under very difficult circumstances. I want the photography to demonstrate this.”
No one knows precisely how many teenage fathers there are in the UK. The Social Exclusion Report on Teenage Pregnancy, published several years ago, barely gave fathers a mention. What is known is that in 2005 around 40,000 babies were born to teenage girls. Despite the abundantly large numbers, teenage dads are mostly invisible but when they do get involved, the impact on their children can be profound.
The title of the exhibition comes from the film Scum where teenagers sent to Borstal compete to become “The Daddy”. The film follows Carlin, played by Ray Winston, who fights his way to the top. “I’m the Daddy now” is the famous line he delivers after the final fight to become top dog.
Jude Edginton was born in London in 1969. He became a freelance photographer aged 18 in 1987, the same year his daughter was born.
He still lives in London and is now an award winning editorial and commercial photographer. He won Magazine Photographer of the year in 2005, which led to an exhibition of his celebrity portraits, sponsored by Sony PlayStation. In 2008 a collaboration with adidas produced a portrait project of the Beijing Olympics British team. This resulted in a summer exhibition on the South Bank outside Tate Modern, a version of which then toured the country.
Latest shoots include Pete Doherty burning guitars on a London roof top, Leona Lewis at home in the streets of Hackney, Boris Johnson for Italian magazine Style and Graham Norton becoming a drag queen. Most recently published was a feature on Morrissey fans to celebrate Morrissey’s 50 birthday. Jude is currently involved in a long term commission photographing the presenters of Radio 2 and Radio 5 Live for the rebrand of BBC Radio.
His reportage work has encompassed horse racing in Iran, air guitar in Finland, Moscow nightlife, football adventures in Mexico, The Burning Man festival and San Francisco’s female fire fighters.
Jude’s work appears in many leading magazines.
We’re currently planning the exhibition which will take place in central London during 2010. Similar to the Olympics portrait project it is expected to use an outdoor location which has the advantage not only of a wider demographic reach but also a much greater audience than most indoor gallery spaces.
The Times Magazine is the confirmed media sponsor for this project.
The press and publicity for a central London outdoor exhibition will create widespread use of the pictures and will open up debate and discussion on T.V and radio current affairs and arts shows.
The photographic press will also cover the exhibition. Jude has a good working relationship with the British Journal of Photography and Professional Photographer magazine both having publicised previous exhibitions on their covers.
Press releases and images will be sent to listings magazines and free London press.