writer :

'From a style perspective, what has always intrigued me are the motivations of subjects wishing to project a 'look', make an impression. The resourcefulness and often desperate need to be seen as an individual deserves to be identified and assessed.'

'From the fringes of society to commercial hotspots, from clubland to Fashion Week events and the minute-by-minute bombardment of social media, an assessment of those wishing to strut an exhibition of one's self merits serious consideration beyond an infantile thumbs up / thumbs down. Such website comments are invariably a sad reflection upon a certain level of functioning.'

PP Hartnett has always focused on individuals who work a dynamic 'look', subjects for whom transforming their appearance means a lot more than fancy dress and the selfie-promotional moment.

'I interact with the subjects I stalk, talk with them. My pictures don't glamorise the subject. If anything, it's the bloodshot eyes, gaping pores and psychology beyond the make-up that I've always wanted a viewer to probe.'

It's evident that it is the mavericks and the social risk-takers who interest Hartnett, as well as the fast-lane fashion obsessives.

Hartnett's compulsion to document the extremes of youth culture in transition has always revolved around the themes of consumption, decadence and conspicuous sexuality played out against an urban backdrop.

Hartnet's body of work is characterised by a poetic appreciation of imperfection, personality and eccentricity.

PP Hartnett has thrived through turbulent decades, which so many of his peers did not survive.

'Punk? The 80s? The music scene and clubland were fueled by amphetamines, alcohol and self-absorbed narcissism. Then came capital letters, hitting hard. Fast-lane moths, straight to the flames. The late 70s and early 80s were a time of exhibitionism, voyeurism... fetishists, on parade. Towards the end of the 80s, Ecstasy created monsters of suburbanites at raves. Messed-up, loved-up smilers, heading for Casualty.'

PP Hartnett leads a nomadic lifestyle, selecting to live in remote parts of the world.

'I need to detach myself to process. It takes time to reflect upon youth in transition, society at large and the chief puppeteers who pull the strings within a range of style-based industries.'

Hartnett has never owned a mobile phone, doesn't own a television, last drove a car in 1982.

'A big NO to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.' Hartnett lives out of the UK for at least six months of each year. 'I take my time to read, research, consider, regroup, then add to my photographic archive, producing writing to go alongside what I have recorded.'

Peter Paul Hartnett is the Senior Contributing Editor of FUSED, fusedmagazine.com.

fiction :

Beyond his focus upon subculture with a style edge, PP Hartnett is an internationally published author and editor of transgressive fiction. Hartnett's first novel was published in 1996, entitled Call Me, edited by Elaine Palmer at Pulp Books. Following success in the UK, St Martin’s Press in NYC signed the work and Hartnett was booked into Hotel 17 for a month of promo at the start of 1998.

Call Me was followed by I Want to Fuck You (North West Arts Award, 1998), Mmm Yeah (a collection of short stories, 1999), before being signed to Hodder & Stoughton's literary imprint, Sceptre, based in London, for the publication of Sixteen (edited by author Nicholas Blincoe, 2001) and Rock 'n' Roll Suicide (edited by Wayne Brooks, BOOK OF THE WEEK in The Times, 2002).

Just One Bullet (joint winner of The Manchester Metropolitan University Monologues Competition, was performed by Hartnett at Urbis, Manchester, 2007).

PP Hartnett has edited two collections of short stories (New Century, New Writing (MPG, 2000) and The Next Wave (MPG, 2002). He has also co-edited an anthology by writers who identify as LGBTI with Cathy Bolton, City Secrets (Crocus Books, 2002).

PP Hartnett has contributed to many collections, most notably The City Life Book of Manchester Short Stories (edited by Ra Page, 1999, published by Penguin) and Shenanigans, (edited by Sarah Champion, 1999, published by Sceptre).

Deletion is a fictional television documentary that PP Hartnett published in 2015. A play, a screenplay, that tackles abuse within the Catholic Church.

Sex : Male (The Hartnett Series) is a digital download collection of ten works by PP Hartnett (published by Autopsy, 2016), which includes a range of previously published material that he has regained the rights upon, as well as Deletion and a recent novel entitled You Bitches.

PP Hartnett's fiction has been reviewed in a wide range of publications, such as The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, The Independent Magazine, Time Out, i-D, Dazed & Confused, Out, GCN, HX, QX, Gay Times, G Scene, Fused and Attitude.

poetry :

  • date of birth, time of death (2017)
  • three men, in tears (2017)
  • gentle and tender, act of confession (2018)
  • i shouldn't, must stop (2019)

All of the above four titles are limited edition hardbacks, published by Autopsy.

Copies of these limited edition works are available within The British Library (London), National Library of Scotland (Edinburgh), Bodleian Library (Oxford), Cambridge University Library, Trinity College (Dublin) and National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth).

Relevant to PP Hartnett's most recent works published by Autopsy is a novella that he wrote at the age of ten, entitled Butterflies & Moths. Murdered, Mounted. From the age of nine to nineteen, Hartnett kept a diary alongside a vast series of notebooks of poetry and short pieces / monologues, based around his emerging sexuality.

These still-existing early works reflect Hartnett’s childhood and teen world of reality and erotic imagination, whilst in the questionable care of a number of now notorious Benedictine monks of Ealing Abbey alongside predatory lay teachers.

Hartnett has given over two hundred readings of his work on an international basis, in locations such as Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Vienna, NYC, Boston, San Francisco, Charlotte (North Carolina), Paris, Tokyo, Dublin, Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Tunis and Gdansk.

As a frequent guest speaker, PP Hartnett mentors a range of students with a focus upon, Creative Writing, Photography, Journalism, Fine Art and Design.