We Smell Like Time by Valerie Phillips

In We Smell Like Time, Valerie Phillips profiles Vivian, a skating, guitar-playing, pink camo-wearing young person in Boulder, Colorado. Phillips’ photos are striking in their visual honesty—most photos of Vivian are candid and contain the blur of a hand or a zooming skateboard. Intermingled with portraits of Vivian are location shots of Boulder, accumulating to form a humble backdrop for the more life-filled photographs. Leafless trees, cracking sidewalks, and roadside “For Rent” signs make Vivian’s pink Thrasher sweatshirt and Dead Kennedy’s graphic T all the more striking. Compelling in their bright colors and quotidian subject matter, We Smell Like Time captures the ephemeral momentum of teenage years, of tucking hair behind your ears and skating around a suburban town.