Simon Burstall

The images included in 93: Punching the Light were all shot in Sydney in 1993 when Simon Burstall was just 17 years old. He was very involved with the rave scene and culture at that time and was drawn to capturing the people and style that surrounded that way of life. He also found time to keep a journal and details of his life, his friends and their experiences. Looking back at this material some 25 years later, Burstall has now created a sort of intimate diary and reflection on the rave culture lifestyle in Australia in the early ‘90s. His photos and diary entries reveal the wonderment of youth and adolescence, a feeling that what they were experiencing as a group was life altering, and that this moment in time would shape them all, not just as friends but in their own individual paths.

About the Author

Simon Burstall was born in Darwin in 1975, and was raised in Sydney, Australia. He started taking his first photographs of his friends while surfing at age 15. He then studied photography in his final years of High school at The Scots College, with his first thesis was on the rave culture in the early 90s in Australia. This then led to Simon to becoming a photo assistant working in many aspects of award winning advertising photographers throughout Australia. His childhood dream was to be a working photographer in New York City, which he moved to 2000. Simon’s very first years in Manhattan he assisted the likes of David Sims, Steven Klein, to Herb Ritts. Simon has worked for a wide range of magazines such as V magazine and Harper’s and fashion campaigns for Gap, Hugo Boss and Lancôme. Over the past two years he has been shooting film on people and places that he loves, a series titled 645 projects love and life through an 80mm lens. Ranging from summers in Cape Cod to a Bed-Stuy block parties in Brooklyn.