The Birthday Party - Tapa dura

This is a series of portraits of children about to attend an imaginary birthday party. Inspired by her daughter's birthday party Vee Speers imagined what characters might be created if role play were pushed to imaginative extremes. The children are placed in front of the same white wall and gaze into the lens of the camera performing within a strictly laid out frame. They reveal very little of themselves and yet this is what makes the portraits so magnetic. The childlike game of dressing up, of putting on costumes, reinforces the surreal tone of the series.

For the past fifteen years, Vee Speers has been based in Paris, working in fashion, photojournalism, and fine art photography. Widely exhibited throughout Europe, the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, and Australia, her work has also been seen in publications including The Sunday Times, Harpers+Queen, GQ, Arena, and Esquire Susan Bright is an independent curator and writer on photography. Author of the highly successful book 'Art Photography Now' (Thames & Hudson, 2006), she has worked with the National Portrait Gallery and Tate Britain. Recent curatorial projects include Face of Fashion for the National Portrait Gallery, London, and 'How We Are: Photographing Britain' (co-curated with Val Williams) for Tate Britain, London.