Juergen Teller, Stella McCartney, Damien Hirst, Steve McQueen and other cultural figures have shared their personal memories of the 1990s, a decade they describe as a time of artistic revolution, creative freedom and cultural ferment in Britain.
Photographers on the Era's Energy
Photographer Juergen Teller recalled the decade as a period of slowness and honesty. Speaking about his photograph of Kate Moss with pink hair, he said: "In the 1990s things were very slow and we were poor, but we were honest and we had fun. Kate asked me to photograph her with the pink hair. We were taking the series of photographs for ourselves, not for any other reason. We liked each other and we wanted to work together."
Eddie Otchere described his 1995 photograph of Goldie, capturing a moment at a jungle music event. "In late 1995 Goldie wanted to insulate and incubate a sound built around the talents of a new group of producers, artists and DJs who had championed the jungle sound," he said. "In this picture you see Goldie is screaming for the rewind. This happened moments after the first bass drops in J. Majik's Your Sound record."
Artists on a Revolutionary Scene
Sarah Lucas spoke about the transformation of London's contemporary art scene in the 1990s, which she said moved from a few stuffy galleries to artist-organised exhibitions in abandoned buildings. She highlighted The Shop on Bethnal Green Road, which she opened with Tracey Emin in 1992, as a hub of community and creativity. "It was a revolution," she said. "There was a period of time when it felt like the whole world was coming to our circus."
Nick Knight discussed his 1997 photograph of David Toole, which he said was the first time people of different physical abilities and body shapes were shown within the aspirational codes of fashion photography. He noted that feedback came through physical letters, faxes and phone calls for about a year, which influenced his decision to start SHOWstudio three years later.
Fashion and Film Memories
Stella McCartney remembered London in the 1990s as "alive" and "electric," describing a collision of music, clubs, art and fashion. She recalled her time at Central Saint Martins, where she made dresses out of spaghetti for two and a half years, and her controversial degree show featuring supermodels Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. "It taught me that instinct matters. Everything I do today comes back to that time," she said.
Yinka Shonibare connected the decade to the Cool Britannia moment, the rise of New Labour and a resurgence in British creativity. He noted that Charles Saatchi was the most significant collector of contemporary art in Britain in the 1990s, and that his collection and Nicholas Serota's Turner Prize added unprecedented energy to the art scene.
Steve McQueen described his film Bear as a springboard and a risk, saying: "When you are doing something through the act of making, you can't put things in reserve, you've got to go all out." He also criticised the era's focus on Britpop at the expense of black music, calling the black music created then "revolutionary."
