Impressions of Youth
Ahead of the October Square Print Sale, titled Youth, five Magnum photographers share their thoughts on what it means to be young, and the stories behind their selected images.
Over 100 photographers from Magnum and Aperture explore what it means to be young in the 26th Square Print Sale, which runs from October 20–26, 2025. Here, find a sneak preview of only a handful of the over 100 images available to buy as limited-edition, signed or estate-stamped 6×6″ prints during the week of the sale.
Jerôme Sessini
“When I think about ‘youth,’ I think of ambiguity and duality,” writes Jérôme Sessini. “I think of strength and the infinity of life — of a tomorrow that feels far away. But it’s also the time when doubts begin to appear about the reality of freedom. Are we truly free in our choices, or are they already shaped by our education and social background?”
Pictured above, Sessini selects an image from his long-term series in Mexico, the country where he himself decided to become a photographer in the mid-90s. “This image brings together the two themes that first led me to photography: Mexico and boxing. It reflects my own doubts — the vitality of youth facing life, but also the solitude that comes with the fear of adversity, which inevitably arrives. I see boxing as the perfect metaphor for life itself.”
“I took it in a legendary boxing gym in Mexico City. It’s part of my earliest photographic work. The boy’s name is Moisés — he’s seven years old and has already fought in many bouts. Mexico has produced more than 180 world boxing champions; it’s the country’s most respected sport. For me, boxing is a perfect allegory of life’s struggle, especially for those from the most modest backgrounds. I chose this image because it reflects both my visual aesthetic and the themes that resonate with me on a deeply personal level.”
Rafał Milach
“Youth, as I remember it, is a mix of spontaneous energy and uncertainty,” writes Milach. “It’s the space where anything can happen, but also an extremely vulnerable one.”
“It doesn’t look so, but this situation was a consequence of a very spontaneous one that preceded the shoot. Together with my Czech friend, we were having a break in front of the shopping mall in the postindustrial town of Ostrava. All of a sudden, I saw the two girls heading to the entrance. Their movements almost synchronized, looked like choreography. It was so unreal that I decided to take a portrait of them. I gave no instructions except to ask them to stand closer to the shopping mall wall, so the synchronization of the poses in the picture was probably somehow a subconscious decision.”
“I like the sense of confidence of the girls posing for a portrait as well as the mirrored outfits and gestures, their phones held in their right hands, the heads slightly leaning to the left side.”
Herbert List
For Peer-Olaf Richter, who leads the Herbert List Estate: “Youth, this stage of in-between, comes with the illusion of a free choice of who you want to become, and occupies a space in which we dare to try things we would not have done earlier in life, nor will do later.”
“This laboratory of ideas and self-expression inspired List throughout his life. List created more than just a series of images depicting youth — it is a theme that runs through most areas of his work. But he has more than just aesthetic reasons for depicting the youthful body. He is fascinated by moments of transition and ambiguity, which he discovers in the passage of adolescence: not quite a man yet, but no longer a boy, with an expression not distinctly male, but not clearly female either.”
Yael Martínez
“Youth is strength,” Martínez writes. “It is the vital energy that drives us to challenge the limits imposed by systems of control: by our notions of reality, by our society, by our culture. It is the force that enables us to endure, to resist the battles that today’s reality presents.”
“The image I selected is of Luisa Fernanda, a transgender Mexican woman who has lived in New York for years. The energy I speak of — that spirit of youth — is what has led her to challenge every structure of control in pursuit of her own horizon, in pursuit of her freedom.”
Looking at the images selected for the Sale, Martínez comments: “In the photographs by D’Agata, Boulos, and Khader, that energy resonates within the people they capture. These images carry the life force that makes necessary change in our time possible. They are powerful photographs that, through personal battles, expand our horizons—our understanding of reality and our perception of life itself.”
"Youth, as I remember it, is a mix of spontaneous energy and uncertainty."
- Rafał Milach
Cristina de Middel
“For me, I think of a time when you believe you are free, but your life is already being designed by others — family, school, society,” writes De Middel. “Youth is the moment when control begins to take shape, gently disguised as care or guidance. It’s when the idea of freedom meets the structure that will later define it.”
“I’m interested in images that reveal control more than emotion — scenes where the structure of things is visible. I like when beauty coexists with discipline, when you can sense that what looks innocent might actually be a form of training or repetition.
“This photograph shows two four-year-old twin girls in China, wearing identical dresses, their heads cropped out of the frame. It was taken not long after the one-child policy ended — a period when its influence still shaped families and expectations. Having twins was almost like winning a lottery, but it also reinforced how tightly life could be controlled from birth. What fascinates me is the repetition: same dress, same posture, same frame. It’s an image about identity being negotiated within systems that decide who you are before you can decide for yourself.”
