Today we hear from Jennifer Forward-Hayter about her series People Buy People, which follows the public lives of aspiring professionals. From strategy workshops to exclusive wealth management parties; insecurities are systematically exploited as people look for what to do with their lives.
The initial beginnings for my project People Buy People came from a small off-the-cuff remark. My brother, a traditional independent farmer, was getting married and he got himself a suit, the first formal suit he’d bought himself since his school prom. His friends joked with him, saying he ‘looked like a London banker’. When I finally came down from London for the wedding and saw the suit, it was nothing but a normal blue suit. Growing up in Dorset, I had never really seen a businessman in a suit.
This project started from a space of ‘othering’. I didn’t know this group of people, they weren’t my culture, and I wanted to know what they did. I searched Eventbrite and Facebook Events for ‘how to become a millionaire’ workshops, exclusive networking events, even oil conferences. In these places, I found the ones most devoted to evolving themselves to fit the 9-5 lifestyle, the ones desperate to succeed at it.
The personal development industry which I came to know is worth £14-15 billion, with seminars often run weekly by each company, not to mention constant webinars, phone support, and books. Attendees come from all across the country to attend certain events, and whilst some (initial) meetings are free, they are often £3000 – £8000 for a weekend. At these events, you’re told you should no longer be comfortable with being comfortable. Why earn £30k a year, when you could earn a million? From strategy workshops to exclusive wealth management parties; insecurities are systematically exploited as people look for what to do with their lives.
Attending these events, I went in disguise, wearing a mangled together jumble sale suit, which was 4 sizes too big. I told people I was a landlord; a double-barrelled name gets you far. Although it didn’t particularly matter if I got kicked out, there were hundreds of these events every night. The Excel centre, now the NHS Nightingale, held 4 at the same time over the same weekend, and I signed up for each of them! I was honest, I’d ask lots of questions and take notes on their answers. I’d watch speakers deliver lectures through an 800mm sports lens, trying to photograph their hand movements and shiny watches. I didn’t want to frame these people as ‘money-hungry Tories’, but just ordinary individuals, who just want to better themselves.
Jennifer Forward-Hayter is a photographer primarily focused on documentary and social performance. Her work records modern history, particularly showcasing communities who are traditionally alienated by the art community.
Jennifer was born in Dorset, and her early arts education consisted of reading Sunday magazines. This mass art rhetoric brought foundations of history, TV, pop culture, philosophy, story-telling and journalism into Jennifer’s own work. She recently graduated from Middlesex University and held her debut solo exhibition at the Truman Brewery earlier this year,.