Art Metropole

#13946

Whitby Goth Weekend

Artist

David Severn

Date

2018

Publisher

Beam Editions

Format

Artists' Books

ISBN

978-1-9164200-4-5

Size

15.2 × 21.6 cm

Length

32 pp

Genre

Photography

Whitby Goth Weekend is a twice-yearly gathering of members of the Goth subculture in the popular seaside town on the North East coast. Whitby is a rural town with a great seafaring history, which is bound up in mythology and storytelling. Not only does it have the famous literary connection to Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, but it’s monastic heritage and location on the edge of the North York Moores strengthens its Gothic character. The weekend attracts the most committed Goths, promenading the cobbled streets and harbour in their magnificent outfits to express their devotion to this rebellious subculture, which emerged in the early 1980’s alongside bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy.

The new limited edition book with an essay by Wayne Burrows, presents a compelling edit of 25 images from the series. Severn wittily observes the Gothic invasion of a traditional seaside town, capturing the Goths among the gaiety and simple pleasures of the English seaside. The photographs show the sartorially elegant Goths eating fish and chips, playing in the sea, buying sticks of rock and taking snapshots of each other outside the quaint shop fronts and vernacular signage of the Whitby streets.

Softcover, saddle-stitch, colour.