*This title is on pre-sale. Ships Fall 2021.

Hardcover, 144 pages
100+ color and b&w images
10.75 x 8.75 in.

Romantic Lowlife Fantasies: Emerging Adults in the Age of Hope is award-winning photographer Laura June Kirsch’s first monograph. Co-edited by Kirsch and Juxtapoz editor-in-chief Evan Pricco, the collection examines an era of hopeful hedonism for a generation that came of age between 9/11 and a recession that put the traditional American Dream just out of reach.

Kirsch has captured a unique time with these photographs and draws a connection from how her own 20s turned out (“nothing like what I was told”) to the lives of fellow millennials she met while making the book, “free spirits in cities across America, living out their adult lives in unconventional ways.”

She elaborates:

“Security was never a viable option… We graduated from high school in the shadow of 9/11 and entered the workforce in the midst of a recession. By our mid-30s, once most of us finally got a grip on our lives, a global pandemic [had struck]. Are we really the ‘entitled generation’, or do we take risks because we have nothing to lose?

The economic crash of 2008 devastated all but rent prices. This created an opportunity for young people to start businesses—open venues, bars and restaurants. Communities of fun-loving people formed in cities across America. Subsequently, the parties were non stop. These photos are a collection from that time period, documenting emerging adults living out their romantic lowlife fantasies.”

Pricco adds, “Romantic Lowlife Fantasies isn’t Laura just showing off another youthful moment in time; there is a deeper understanding here of the fact that for perhaps the first time in American history, youth wasn’t interrupted by some drastic evolution to adulthood.”

Featuring 100+ original photos, RLF includes original essays by Darlene “Dee Nasty” Demorizi (comedian and VICE personality); Allyson Toy, aka DJ Toy (co-founder of Lions Share, a creative community and weekly music podcast featuring Asian/Asian diaspora artists on the rise, who also oversees music partnerships at Twitch); Caitlin McGarry (astrologist and wellness coach); Jessica Amodeo (NYU writing MFA alum); and poem by Brooke Burt (House of Vans/ NYU MFA Creative Writing alum). The cover was co-designed by Kirsch and Patrick Carrie, of cult rock band Limbeck.

+++

There are three limited-edition options for this title:

• “Peace to Go (2015)” 8"x12" print, edition of 100 (pictured second from last)
• “Free Parking (2015)” 8"x12" print, edition of 100 (pictured last)
• Set of 12 4"x6" postcards

About Laura June Kirsch:

Laura June Kirsch is a School Of Visual Arts graduate and Canon award-winning photographer specializing in editorial, branded content, and events for clients like VANS, Buzzfeed, and Showtime. Her work has appeared in Vogue, Juxtapoz, New York Magazine, Vice, Paper, and “Today with Hoda & Jenna.”

ADVANCE PRESS

Culture Collide
Juxtapoz
Audio Femme

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