B-Boys, Fly Girls & Horticulture

The book B-Boys, Fly Girls & Horticulture documents the photo project by Paul Hutchinson dedicated to the Hip Hop scene in Germany and India. The photographer grew up in a post fall-of-the-wall Berlin and used to be part of the Hip Hop circles in the 90s. Now he approaches this youth culture as an attentive observer.

In his work, Paul Hutchinson shows the subculture as a sensuous experience. Through his both sober and sensitive photographic look he provides the insights into the daily life, surroundings and individual stories of the young hip-hoppers. For his portraits, he keeps taking new perspectives showing the juveniles as immersed, almost isolated individuals. The rhythm and motion that are commonly associated with this music and dance culture are only indicated through their attributes while the real ambience is created by carefully chosen details. An overall image emerges from this nonlinear narrative and the fragmentary shots convey a genuine impression.

The young photographer develops his own style that combines documentary and poetics and expresses the inner motion through the aesthetics of colour and form. The pictures from the Botanical Garden in Bangalore are presented alongside the pictures of the Hip Hop scene. They serve as a metaphorical imagery to explore the idea of 'exoticism' that corresponds with the 'foreignness' of the Hip Hop culture in India.

'But it is this spirit of negating all pragmatic circumstances, of pushing on and on, affirming life, that I found so inspiring while working amongst the youngsters in east and west.' (Paul Hutchinson in B-Boys, Fly Girls & Horticulture, 2015)