プレオーダー *3月中旬〜下旬入荷予定

ロンドンを拠点に活動する南アフリカ人フォトグラファーでありアーティスト、アリス・マン（Alice Mann）の作品集。

南アフリカの高校卒業生たちが出席する、いわゆる卒業学年の「プロム」的なイベント「マトリック・ボール（Matric Ball）」を撮影した作品を収録する。2018年から2023年にかけて、13校の高校で撮影された本作品は、人生の大きな節目に立つ南アフリカの若者たちを包括的に捉えた一冊である。

ブックデザインはスチュアート・スミス（Stuart Smith）が手がけ、鮮やかなブルーのクロス装に金の箔押しタイトルを施した装丁となっている。長い時間をかけて準備され、待ち望まれてきたこの行事は、彼らが自分自身を形づくる過程における一つの頂点でもある。ここに写し出されるのは、入念に準備された自己像である。学校の廊下は彼らにとっての「メットガラ（Met Gala）」の階段であり、食堂は「アカデミー賞（Academy Awards）」の舞台のような場所となる。この日は彼らにとっての特別な日であり、その装いもまた華やかなものとなる。

しかし、この瞬間は彼らにとって、そして南アフリカという社会にとっても複雑な意味を持つものである。作家でありキュレーターでもあるキャサリン・E・マッキンリー（Catherine E. McKinley）は、本書に寄せたエッセイのなかで次のように述べている。

(…) 彼らは思春期という幕の背後に座っている。その幕は、家庭や社会的状況、そしてアパルトヘイト後の民主国家として約30年を迎えようとしている南アフリカという環境のなかでの彼らの姿を覆い隠している。彼らの若い人生は、その長い闘いの歴史の半分ほどの時間しかまだ生きていないのだ。
— キャサリン・E・マッキンリー

きらびやかなサテンの布地を幾重にもまとい、パテントレザーやパースペックスのヒールに足を押し込み、スパンコールやジョーダンのスニーカー、羽飾りやサスペンダー（ズボンのためのもの、あるいは歯列矯正のためのもの）に身を包んだ彼らの姿を見ることができる。これらの装いには長い時間が費やされており、彼らはその姿を写真として永続させるために、作者の前に立っている。

本書の中央では、光沢紙の見開きページいっぱいにパーティーの光景が展開する。靴は脱ぎ捨てられ、十代の熱気で血管が浮き立つほどに踊る。何か月も積み重ねてきた期待が、ついに解き放たれる。自己表現に満ちた彼らは、その瞬間に身を委ねるのだ。

Available for pre-order now. *It will be shipped between the middle and the end of March.

IDEA’s first book of 2026 is Alice Mann’s THE NIGHT IS YOUNG. This is a book of South African school- leavers at their Matric Balls. Photographed between 2018 and 2023, and at thirteen different high schools, the book presents a comprehensive study of South African youth at a momentous point in their lives. The book is designed by Stuart Smith and clothbound in a vibrant blue with a gilded title, fittingly regal for the nights within. Each of these events have been long prepared for, long-longed for — an ultimate crescendo of the creation of self. This is a prepared portrait of who they are. The school corridors are their Met Steps, the dining hall their Oscars stage: it is their big day, and they go big...

This moment in their lives is complex; for them, and for South Africa. Writer and curator Catherine E. McKinley observes in her essay that Mann’s subjects...

... sit behind curtains of adolescence. The curtains close off the fact of who they are outside, in their families, in circumstance, in a post-Apartheid democracy that is then at the cusp of 30 years; their young lives represent barely more than half of that tremendous struggle to grow...
Catherine E. McKinley

There are layers beneath the reams of ruffles, the attentively chosen accessories; beneath the focus on their ‘looking your out-and-out best’.

Maureen Onwunali wrote a poem for the book. She puts it this way:

Adolescence captured
against the backdrop of synthetic flower-walls,
as rented chandeliers catch
onto the dancing rhinestone of embellished torsos.
 Maureen Onwunali

For Mann, the photographs are a collaboration with her subjects. As McKinley observes in her text, “She worked with the students to show themselves as they most wanted to appear.” Everything, from their hair down to their shoes and, of course, the all-important outfit in between, has been specially selected for this night to ensure they are dressed to the absolute nines.

You can see them steeped in reams of glossy satin. Feet pushed into patent and Perspex heels. Sequins and Jordans. Feathers and braces (for trousers, and also for teeth)!

Hours have been poured into these looks, and they stand before Mann ready for it to be immortalised.

In Alice Mann’s own words:

“The ‘arrivals’ to the balls are highly anticipated, as this is the first opportunity to show off their carefully curated looks. At most schools, a red carpet will be laid out, roads are closed off, and crowds of spectators – relatives, friends and even people from the surrounding neighbourhoods – will line up to cheer on the students as they disembark from a range of vintage and customised cars.

The motif of a high school ball is typically linked to ‘American’ proms, which for most, is a theme that is instantly recognisable. Inspired by the rich discourse of iconic American imagery, I am intrigued by the way that these ideas play out in a contemporary South African context, where these events aspire to be particularly lavish. South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies in the world and during this project, I have worked with schools representing learners from very different backgrounds. Some spend months planning their custom- made clothes for the night, while others’ families spend months raising money for them to be able to attend at all. Yet still, for many the idea of attending a Matric Ball is an aspirational idea and remains only a dream.”

In the middle of the book, on contrasting gloss paper in full bleed, the party erupts. The shoes are off and veins pop (literally) with teenage enthusiasm. Months of anticipation has finally given. Dripping with self-expression, they release themselves.

with the weight of the world folded into clutch purses
and the tensions of youth dissipating behind smoke machines and perhaps reality is an unwanted chaperone
waiting impatiently in the carpark
Maureen Onwunali