For a book with such an ostensibly nihilistic title, Ryan McGinley’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (which takes it’s title from Neil Young’s 1969 album of the same name) is a work of youthful optimism.
Certainly, some irony must be at work. With it’s portrayal of young In-Kids – in various states of repose or action - it could easily have been called Everybody Knows This Is Where It’s At.
Inspired in great part by Catherine Opie’s Dyke Deck, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere is a departure from McGinley’s road trip images of kids in caves and running nude across highways. Instead, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere‘s collection of nearly 100 black & white nude portraits of young people are defined by simple, Avedon-esque aesthetic of black, white and grey. While intimate, the portraits are defined less by grand “I see you” moments and more by a general optimism in freedom, youth, clear skin and hairlessness.
Includes a conversation between McGinley and Opie.