From the edition of 5
From the series Flogging a Dead Horse 1985-1993

Paul Reas is part of a pioneering generation of photographers who exposed and critiqued British class and culture in the 1980s and 90s. Reas' seminal body of work, I Can Help (1988)examines the impact of the consumer boom of the 1980s, which resulted in a proliferation of American-style shopping malls and the rise of the new middle class. Humorous and slightly caustic, Reas' images are a criticism of an emerging cultural façade epitomized by heritage industry sites, branding, and figurative cultural icons.