William Lakin

In the summer of 2011 I flew to the Greek island of Rhodes with the intention of spending the summer in the party resort of Faliraki working as a PR, (standing outside a bar or club trying to tempt people in with promises of cheap drinks and a good time). My friends were playing in a cover band every night in the resort; I was unemployed at the time so to avoid a lonely, idle summer I decided to fly out there two weeks after their departure to join them for a summer of fun. Five weeks later I was on a flight home having drunk every night for the duration of my stay. As well as being malnourished, over-worked and under-paid, I left with mild depression, a feeling of guilt and in a state of confusion. To work in one of these resorts is to become part of the fabric of the place. Runaways from their homeland the workers find themselves in a fictional limbo; everything is well rehearsed and repeated daily for the benefit of the constant cycle of tourists, and with this role-play as their backdrop they make a life for themselves, divorced from their roots...

Florida Club is an exploration of the town of Great Yarmouth and the surrounding area on the east coast of England, photographed during the first four months of 2013. The area was once a booming holiday destination, one of the most popular in the UK, and whilst the summer months are still noticeably livelier the winter takes on a very different face. My experience of the town is as an outsider, with no connections to the area or people; I spent my time exploring the town alone, on foot and in my car. The work seeks to provoke questions about the residents of the town and their relationship to their surroundings; what is it like to live in a place built for the benefit of visitors for only a small part of the year? In a place that transforms so dramatically in tandem with the seasons, the passing of time and the influence of the weather is very apparent. For many of these people their lives are dictated by the push and pull of the seasons, which in turn results in long, quiet and contemplative periods that many spend unemployed. Some business owners open shop during these times but...