Film separates shooting from looking. By the time I actually see a photo, that day is usually a little further away. Between the ages of seventeen and nineteen, I travelled alone, moving through unfamiliar places and returning to familiar routines. A lot of those shots were taken without much intention. It was only later, when I began going through them again, that I realised my gaze seemed to know where it wanted to go before I did. I hope people who look at these photos can step into how my younger self saw the world, and feel that slight gap between myself and the world around me, especially while going through so many "firsts". Being alone makes you hyper-aware of that gap. Sometimes it comes from being somewhere new, sometimes right inside the stuff you know best. I keep that distance on purpose. Time changes a photo. Look at it a few years later, and it’s not just about that one day anymore. It starts holding everything that happened after. A limited-edition zine, where the light found us, will be launched alongside the exhibition. 100% of every sale will be donated to YoungMinds via Work for Good, in support of young people’s mental health. I hope these photographs can also somehow be there for others going through the same stage of life. Dolly Du is a London-based photographer born in 2007 and currently studying at University College London. She works primarily with 35mm film photography.

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