Ain’t Got No Fear

‘Ain’t Got No Fear’ is a film which Mikhail Karikis created with a group of 11 to 13-year-old boys who are growing up in the militarised post-industrial marshland of the Isle of Grain in South East England. In response to the isolation of their village and the lack of space where teenagers can gather, in the mid-2010s, kids were organising youth raves in a local wood, which were often raided by the police. Using as their beat the persistent crushing noises of the demolition of a power plant next to their village, the boys of Grain sing a rap song they wrote about their lives, recalling memories of being younger, and imagining their futures and old age. Structurally the video oscilates between a music video and observational footage which glimpses into teenage experiences on the edges of urbanity. It follows youths to their secret underground hideaways and features their rackety reclaiming of the local site where raves took place. ‘Ain’t Got No Fear’ reveals a way in which industrial sites are often re-imagined by youths with a form of spatial justice defined by friendship and play, the thrill of subverting authority and evading adult surveillance.