My Last Day at Seventeen: Powerful portraits of teenagers coming of age in Ireland

My Last Day at Seventeen is a series by American photographer Doug DuBois that documents the lives of teenagers coming of age in Ireland, capturing and exploring the promise and adventure of childhood with a focus on its fragility and inevitable loss.

Via Creative Boom submission. All images courtesy of the artist.

Via Creative Boom submission. All images courtesy of the artist.

DuBois first went to the Emerald Isle at the invitation of the Sirius Arts Centre in 2009. What began as a month-long residency grew into a five-year project about youth, Ireland, and an exceptional group of young people from a few blocks of a housing estate in Russell Heights.

He gained entry to the community when two of its residents, Kevin and Eirn (who would later become central subjects of his work), took him to a local hangout spot, opening his eyes “to a world of the not-quite adults, struggling—publicly and privately—through the last moments of their childhood.”

My Last Day at Seventeen is set to become a photo book with the launch of a Kickstarter campaign to get it printed and published. Raising nearly $30,000 so far, DuBois already has enough to turn his ambition into a reality. So keep your eyes peeled for his book launching soon.

Via Kickstarter

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