The 1990s: Image of a Decade

The 1990s: Image of a Decade by Henry Carroll

A visual celebration of a seminal decade. As the Cold War ended and a new millennium approached, grunge, hip-­hop, and rave exploded in popularity as teenagers and twenty-­somethings searched for something real, something more meaningful. Ostentation was out. Authenticity was in. And so, we had the first flashes of reality TV, the O. J. Simpson trial, the rise of surveillance culture, and the internet. We had early wake-­up calls to the world of social media as The Truman Show and The Blair Witch Project exploited the emerging visual language of DIY video content. We heard the rallying call of "Girl Power!" from riot grrrls and the Spice Girls.