Girls' Night, the first photo book from acclaimed Irish photographer Eimear Lynch, explores girlhood rooted in the Irish teen rituals and intimate spaces of bedrooms, bathrooms and dance halls across the country.
Lynch documents the blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments of adolescence when the excitement of growing up is new, and the looming responsibilities of adulthood are still distant.
Eimear introduces Girls' Night below.
'For Girls' Night, I travelled around Ireland to photograph teen discos, and to try and capture the anticipation of girls as they prepared for them.
In a way, I wanted to relive my teenage years. I loved going to discos. I mostly loved the hours of getting ready with friends beforehand. It would take most of the day.
We’d usually go straight to one of the girls’ houses after school on a Friday and spend the following 5-6 hours doing our tan, hair, and make-up together.
It wasn’t all for the boys. We knew they didn’t care what colour eye shadow we wore or whether we curled or straightened our hair.
The discos were more of a place to show off our new make-up skills that we probably learned from Kiss Magazine and to pretend to be women for the first time.
We were no longer kids. We were no longer the 12-year-olds who our parents were dressing, we were 13 years old and were allowed to wear the bodycon cut-out dress we ordered from ASOS and pretend we could walk in the cheap stilettos from the shops on Henry Street.
The transition from child to teenager comes about so fast and suddenly you're completely consumed by your appearance and the first signs of womanhood.
Amidst the insecurities and pressures that accompany this transition, there’s also an undeniable thrill in the anticipation of growing up.
I remember the excitement I had as a teenager to finally be able to partake in the rituals of beauty culture.
It was a sweet spot where the positives of womanhood were untainted by the weight of any impending challenges.
Girls' Night by Eimear Lynch is currently available in a limited edition of 500 copies - find out more about Eimear and her work here.
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