Quietly puffing on a pink vape, while her thick blonde hair falls haphazardly over her sweatshirt, Anaïs Gallagher is instantly engaging, unguarded and funny. When we speak, the 25-year-old photographer has been to 12 consecutive Oasis shows, every one since her dad and uncle stepped back on stage together for one of the most hyped rock tours in history.
‘I'll never get bored of the shows,’ she exhales (although she admits, ‘I’m a bit sick of the bucket hats’). ‘The crowds are phenomenal. I’ve been getting pretty emotional every night just seeing how joyous it makes everyone.’
She compares it to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour which ‘wasn't very cross generational [or] multi-gendered. It was women in their early twenties. That was great and I felt like I was part of a community, because they were my people. But looking out into the crowd at the Oasis shows, there are so many people of different ages, and men and women…’
Her cousins Lennon and Gene Gallagher have been her close companions this year. ‘They’re the only people who fully understand what’s going on and how crazy it is, the before and after. We were brought up the same. We share the same incredible grandmother, but I am her favourite,’ she quips of the indomitable Peggy Gallagher who still lives in the house where she brought up Noel and Liam. ‘She’s the coolest person ever, but she’s not arsed. She’s the opposite of a stage mum. She’s like, “It’s not for me.”’
Born in the year 2000 to Noel Gallagher and Meg Mathews, key arbiters of the 1990s cultural wave which spanned from parties at Number 10 to all nighters at their legendary Supernova Heights residence in Belsize Park. Her parents split when she was a baby, her father remarrying and having her two younger brothers, Donovan (17) and Sonny (15) with Sara Macdonald. Gallagher was brought up to the backdrop of both backstage and boarding school. Her earliest gig memories are of wearing ear defenders, checking out the chocolate in the dressing room and being ‘obsessed with the golf buggies backstage’ as well as being told ‘you can only come if you stay awake’ (and falling asleep).
Alongside, she describes growing up in the countryside at Bedales, an arts focused, liberal-minded boarding school (alma mater of Cara Delevingne and Lily Allen). ‘I was a bit of an upper middle-class cliché. I had horses, I was in Pony Club. I was really into athletics, swimming, any [sport] that was by myself. I was never into team sports, I think because my ego wanted to blame everybody else for failing,’ she deadpans, describing an upbringing that was light years away from her father’s in a council house in Burnage.
The country instilled a love of animals. She tells a recent story of looking after a lost lamb while on a 50km hike in the Isle of Wight. ‘My friends call me Dr Dolittle. I’m the first person to say, “don’t kill the spider, make sure you relocate the mouse outside”.’ She loved boarding school, where she was sent from the age of nine. ‘I was homesick for about 24 hours, and then I was like, this is the best thing ever. It was my home. When I used to come back on weekends or holidays I would miss my bed, I preferred my mattress at school.’
It was here she mastered a long-held affinity for photography, with her tutor encouraging her to apply for art school. ‘Every time I went on holiday my mum would make me a scrapbook and give me a disposable camera. I’ve still got them.’ She leaps up and scrambles around the room to pull one out from a trip to India, pointing out the singed edges, ‘I was in a house fire when I was younger, so it’s a bit smoke damaged’. (Mathews’ Belsize Park house burned down while the pair were out walking their dog in 2011). She points out pictures of elephants (‘I would never visit elephants now because I think that’s cruel’), a snake, her mother with pigtails, and getting onto a private jet. ‘As I got older, I wanted the photos to be better, I was always taking photos, always asking for cameras, making short films and skits. I loved creating imagery.’
At a young age she was exploring careers. Her first job was presenting a CBBC show. ‘I never wanted to be an actor but I wanted to be on Blue Peter, things like that.’
Inevitably, we come to her first taste of nepo-baby-ism. ‘I was 12 or 13, before I went on the producer of the show said, “You have to be really good, you can’t mess up. If you do, people will say I only put you on the show because of your dad.”’ Quite the brutal ‘break a leg’ chat.
‘I think it was fair,’ she says clear eyed, ‘it was harsh but completely true.’
She has a grounded take on the nepo discourse. ‘When I was younger, I was massively in denial. “No, my dad doesn't help me.” Or, “I'm talented in my own right.” I pushed against it.’
Clearer perspective came during her fine art photography degree at Camberwell College of Art, where she was challenged both artistically and socially. Art school was the first place she found people that didn’t like her for who she was (she also points out the snobbier families at her boarding school looked down on her parents, Blur fans, perhaps). ‘I went in on myself. I was really embarrassed of my own privilege and would not want to talk about who my dad was at uni. I felt the need to caveat every single thing I said with “but I'm really lucky”.’
Now she is sanguine. ‘I'm not delusional about the fact that my dad has helped me out immensely. I never had to get a part time job. If I needed a new camera, he would buy me one. I'm very lucky that not only have they given me such a comfortable life, but my parents are very cool. Lots of people have parents who are really rich and help [them] out, but they're a horrible Tory politician or something. At least my dad is a cool dad.’
Her route into professional photography came via the usual unpaid internships at magazines and production companies as well as shooting her friends’ bands. Incidentally, her best friend is Elijah Hewson, Bono’s son. She shot his band Inhaler’s first single cover. Photojournalism is an area she’s drawn to and she relishes more reportage style assignments. ‘I wanted to take photos of real things and real people. That's why I ended up taking photos of bands on tour, or my dad on tour, or have recently started taking photos on film sets.’
She has been dating It’s A Sin actor Callum Scott Howells for three years. ‘I maybe jump from nepo baby to nepo girlfriend, he’s managed to get me jobs on his last two film sets,’ she jokes.
‘We're a massive part of each other's lives. He and I see each other nearly every day. I'm such a champion of his work. I've been there every step of the way. I'm constantly running lines with him, things like that.’
She describes being the ‘sole camera woman’ on her father’s 2024 documentary The Making Of Council Skies. ‘All the footage was mine [but] he directed the edit,’ she says with a knowing pursed lip. ‘I didn’t have a say in the edit, but it turned out amazing. [For] six months I went to the studio with my dad every day. I didn’t realise how hard his job [is]. That was the first time I learned how many instruments he can play, how musically gifted he is in terms of production.’ She laughs, ‘I was definitely getting on his nerves. I’d be chatting about a funny video and he’d be like “We’re working, this isn’t the dinner table”.’
TOP IMAGE - Anais wears (left) jacket, £695, jumper, £360, both Longchamp, ring, £195, Ruddock; (right) dress, £605, Longchamp; ring, £195, Ruddock
PHOTOGRAPHER: Elliot James Kennedy
STYLING: Sofia Lazzari
Shoot producer: Nathan Higham. Hair: Alex Price at Eighteen Management. Make-up: Riona O'Sullivan using Dior Forever Foundation and Capture Le Sérum. Manicure: Robbie Tomkins at LMC. Photographer's assistants: Luke Fullalove, Millie Noble. Style assistant: Gavi Weiss. Style intern: Carlotta Tentorio