Alice Poole - A Life of No System, In a Time of Restriction

Alice Poole

A Life of No System, In a Time of Restriction

When coronavirus hit the UK, I don’t think anybody anticipated the indefinite isolation that awaited us, the human connection that within one announcement was gone. The words ‘stay at home’ were present in every household and echoed as we applauded for the NHS. The clanging of saucepans and the clapping of hands brought communities to tears and through months of uncertainty, it was this rhythm that united us.

Throughout the 1990s, Vinca Petersen documented her life on the road. At the age of 16, she uprooted her life and began travelling amongst the rave scene in the 90s. Her unique and captivating diaristic styled body of work No System (1999), became a visual diary as she documented the ups and downs of life on the road; preserving memories that often became hazy. Petersen effortlessly captured the freedom of youth and tidal waves of civil disobedience, born out of the anger felt amongst young people as raves became part of a continued game of cat and mouse with authorities. This inevitably led to the The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994 and for many, the days of dancing all night were over—for now at least.

In the present day, in a world struck with a virus we cannot control, economic collapse and social unrest have been two issues that became all too real in 2020. Youth unemployment is the highest it’s been in three years, with the amount of young people seeking employment benefit risen by 271,000 in just under a year. The civil unrest surrounding the Black Lives Matter Movement following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 sent waves of political and social upheaval across the globe, protests from the 1960s Civil Rights Movement echoed in those of 2020.

In the hope that we will soon return to a level

‘No System’ (1999) Vinca Petersen, courtesy of Vinca Petersen Archive

of normality and in light of these events, I look upon Vinca Petersen’s No System, as it’s re-printed for only the second time in over 20 years and ponder the ever-growing relevance of this work in an age of a deadly virus, loss and social unrest.

When I first stumbled upon this work, I felt transported; the images have a rare ability to make you feel part of a community, even if just for a moment. Petersen has made it clear throughout her photographic career that she didn’t set out to be a photographer.

At the age of 16 she left her family home, moved to London and almost immediately became a part of the free party scene of the 90s—an epic wave of music, freedom and dancing. This erupted and became a sensation across Europe. Over the course of a decade, Petersen approached friends and those she travelled with,

‘No System’ (1999) Vinca Petersen, courtesy of Vinca Petersen Archive

‘No System’ (1999) Vinca Petersen, courtesy of Vinca Petersen Archive documenting a life far from convention, in the hope of preserving these memories forever with photographs. That indeed she did. This work acts as a time capsule, a snapshot of a period lived, that will never exist again.

Today we live vicariously through these images, longing for closeness and the ability to dance all night. Petersen’s No System gives us this respite, if only for a moment. I’m sure Petersen didn’t anticipate the relevance this work would gain, over two decades later, as we are transported back to the age of community and togetherness.

No System reminds us of the importance of friendship and of those living their lives outside of societal expectation. The frustrations felt then, are just as prevalent today - young people face an uphill battle with unemployment rising as we’re left dealing with the reality of a year being locked down.

We are seeing unrest and disobedience emerge once more, as illegal raves appear to be back with a vengeance. At the end of 2020, the police were called to numerous locations with reported raves being carried out, many of those in protest to the lockdown restrictions enforced by the government. This is something that I think will continue, as we look forward with a cautious sense of optimism, to the future.

In March 2021, this frustration reached a

‘No System’ (1999) Vinca Petersen, courtesy of Vinca Petersen Archive

boiling point as we witnessed the Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill introduced, awarding the police new powers in an attempt to clamp down on protesting in the UK. This attempt at silencing is one that we have sadly seen before.

There is a sense of liberation in Petersen’s work, a sense of coming full circle. I would hope that moving forward, post-pandemic, we will begin to see more projects like this one emerge; speaking of the times we currently live in. Moving forward, we can hope to see more of this work, with an upcoming exhibition of Petersen’s projects due to be exhibited at The Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol sometime in 2022.

Throughout June and July of 2021, Vinca Petersen has also had an exhibition at Edel Assanti Gallery, in London – titled Raves and Riots, be sure to check it out below:

https://edelassanti.com/exhibitions/102-vinca-petersen-raves-and-riots/