What makes a bam?
In Scottish colloquial language, a bam is used to mean an idiot who may well be dangerous to know and share a 2 litre bottle of cider with. It can also be used as an affectionate insult directed at over-excitable friends.
The ‘bams’ in these portraits were originally etchings from Cesare Lombroso’s 19th century studies of delinquent and criminal young men, from London, Rome and Paris.
Lombroso’s theory and research, presented in his work The Criminal Man (1876) popularised the idea (and fallacy) of the born criminal, and proposed that criminals were biologically pre-determined, their physical features being completely different from ‘normal’ individuals. Characteristics such as a large jaw or hard, shifty eyes were considered typical of the criminal class.
These portraits explore our fascination with criminal culture and psychology, and the tension between understanding, moralising and condemnation. The collage technique and vibrant ink colouring combine historical etchings with notorious yet consistently cool branded clothing imagery, to create a portrait of a bam who is as appealing and familiar as he is aggressive and untrustworthy…
Jonathan Gould was raised in the Perthshire countryside and has lived and worked as a designer in Newcastle, Asheville, NC, and Glasgow. He is currently settled in Leith with a young family. Some of his best friends are bams.
