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A crowded room of teenagers at a party, some wearing costumes. A string of colourful balloons hangs across the ceiling in front of blue and white striped curtains.

Crowded locker areas and empty disco dancefloors — schooldays through the lens of Raimond Wouda

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Date
12 September 2012

Although your schooldays may have seemed pretty dire, it’s always fun to chuckle at schoolchildren at this time of year when you know they’re all having to go back to triple science and haircuts and you’re a grown-up who can do whatever you want (within reason). Raimond Wouda’s Schools project takes you back to the days of cramped locker rooms and sparse dance floors, completely immersing you in the pubescent whiff of hundreds of Dutch teenagers.

Rather that portraying them as sluggish and smelly, as we Brits occasionally stereotype youngsters, Raimond sees them more as a useful way of studying human behaviour. Deliberately focusing only on the areas between lessons, the teeming masses of youths congregate together and interact, which proves to be particularly fascinating to witness.

A crowded school corridor filled with students standing by rows of orange and grey lockers. The people are talking in small groups, many wearing backpacks.
Above

Raimond Wouda: School

A crowded dance floor at a party or club, filled with teenagers. Many people are talking and dancing under dim, hazy lighting.
Above

Raimond Wouda: School

A group of children and teenagers gather in a colourful common room. Some sit around a table playing a card game, while others lounge on a yellow bench and chairs.
Above

Raimond Wouda: School

A crowd of students gathers in a school corridor beside a wall of white lockers. They wear winter coats and carry backpacks, chatting in small groups.
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Raimond Wouda: School

A group of people gather in a corridor in front of a wall of blue lockers. One person stands centrally, wearing a white tracksuit and a white cap.
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Raimond Wouda: School

A crowd of students huddle together in a narrow school corridor between rows of yellow lockers. They carry backpacks and lean into one another, filling the space from wall to wall.
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Raimond Wouda: School

A group of people sit and stand around a series of angular, bright blue benches in a sunlit room. Large windows look out onto a paved courtyard with green shrubbery.
Above

Raimond Wouda: School

A group of people stand and talk in a spacious, dimly lit hall with blue walls. They wear a mix of casual and dressy clothing, including white trousers and a short white dress.
Above

Raimond Wouda: School

A group of people dance and mingle on two white tables pushed together in a large hall. They wear casual clothes, mostly jeans and T-shirts, against a backdrop of a dark blue curtain.
Above

Raimond Wouda: School

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About the Author

Liv Siddall

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Liv joined It’s Nice That as an intern in 2011 and worked across online, print and events, and was latterly Features Editor before leaving in May 2015.

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