What The Heat Left Behind uses Polaroid photography to explore summer as a state of transition. Using heat as a metaphor for change, emerging artists Liam Ayres and Thomas Earnshaw reflect on experiences of relocation and independence, asking how young people come to understand themselves, the communities they occupy, and the spaces around them.

Inspired by a conversation about Polaroids as a medium for pursuing new ways of working and photographic output, the exhibition explores why instant photography continues to resonate with youth today. These photographs are not driven by nostalgia, instead they are a pause from digital overload.

Guided by personal moments of change, Liam and Thomas photograph the people around them over the summer, reflecting on ideas of youth, memory, the summer and place – inviting you to ask: Which summer still lives in you?

Thank-you Duncan Wright for the photos