Sugar for the Pill: the false nostalgia of Lexi Hide’s teenage scenes
The series’ title echoes Simon Scott & Slowdive’s 2017 shoegaze anthem, a song steeped in longing, distance, and the melancholy of looking back. Like the track, Hide’s photographs drift between memory and imagination, where the past lingers with emotional intensity yet remains forever out of reach.Lexi Hide, Poison Ivy Lexi Hide, Look at You The teenage scenes that emerge in Sugar for the Pill are not purely autobiographical. They are shaped by the cultural imaginary of a generation that came of age during the Tumblr years of 2012–15, marked by the dreamy melancholia of indie music and the reckless youth portrayed in films such as Kids (1995) and Palo Alto (2013).
- ▪The series’ title echoes Simon Scott & Slowdive’s 2017 shoegaze anthem, a song steeped in longing, distance, and the melancholy of looking back.
- ▪Like the track, Hide’s photographs drift between memory and imagination, where the past lingers with emotional intensity yet remains forever out of reach.Lexi Hide, Poison Ivy Lexi Hide, Look at You The teenage scenes that emerge in Sugar f
- ▪They are shaped by the cultural imaginary of a generation that came of age during the Tumblr years of 2012–15, marked by the dreamy melancholia of indie music and the reckless youth portrayed in films such as Kids (1995) and Palo Alto (2013
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
InterviewsThe fictions of nostalgia in Lexi Hide’s Sugar for the PillIn conversation with Lexi Hide on memory, imagination, and the myths of youth.By Maria Spadoni BattistoniJune 26, 2026Save StorySave this storySave StorySave this storyAfter presenting Sugar for the Pill at the 10th edition of the PhotoVogue Festival: Women by Women, Lexi Hide reflects on the memories, friendships, and moments of rebellion that shaped her photographic world.Lexi Hide, Dust it Off School uniforms, bruised knees, bedrooms, fireworks, moments suspended between danger and boredom: Lexi Hide’s Sugar for the Pill is a return to teenage girlhood. The series’ title echoes Simon Scott & Slowdive’s 2017 shoegaze anthem, a song steeped in longing, distance, and the melancholy of looking back.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Vogue.
