Tomorrow Doomed Gallery presents Maybe Turn Around, a new film and zine by photographer and filmmaker Amy Gwatkin and co creative directors of SORT, Matt King and Joseph Delaney. The project was shot on the Isle of Sheppey, a small island located in Thames Estuary off the northern coast of Kent, where the trio travelled to explore the fringe communities who reside there. 

“Matt and Joe wanted to shoot boys from a small town, or remote location, who were at odds with their surroundings,” Gwatkin told us. “We went in with an open mind and a loose shooting plan, but the casting by Theo Spencer, surpassed all our expectations. We were able to spend 48 hours on the island blurring the lines between documentary and observation.”

The Maybe Turn Around trailer flashes footage of caravan parks and burning rubble, sound tracked to the cry of a metal guitar melody. The dystopian setting backdrops the young men featured in the film; who haunt the island dressed head-to-toe in leather, dripping in chokers and chains, with black thongs peeking above their waistlines and thigh high PVC boots.

Gwatkin, whose work typically focuses on the male form, the internet and sexuality, was first approached by Delany and King after they came across her Craig Green campaign, which she had shot in the same location. “Jo and I had this film idea for some time, and we liked what Amy was doing,” said King, who grew up in the Isle and is the creative director behind design studio SORT. “It was meant to be, because the three of us share a mutual fascination with the island and it’s what drew us together”.

For the trio, the atmosphere of the location was one of the most crucial elements of the project. Magnetised by the dark energy of the island, Gwatkin explains that the Isle of Sheppey is a place that is “contained, claustrophobic and somewhere to escape from.”

MAYBE TURN AROUND TRAILER from Amy Gwatkin on Vimeo.

The Isle of Sheppey is “contained, claustrophobic and somewhere to escape from.”

Maybe Turn Around opens tomorrow, Thursday 22nd September at Doomed Gallery in Dalston.