What do you want to explore?
In my personal study, I want to explore my immediate family, specifically the women I grew up with. I want to explore the generational female identity of the women in my family, the unique relationship they each have with the island, their life experiences, and their relationships with me. I want to try and photograph and respond to the complex relationships between mothers and daughters, but through multiple generations.
Why it matters to you?
Photographing my grandma and my mum is important to me as they are the two most important people in my life. My mum brought me up with no help and the presence of strong women has always been something present in my life, which is why I wanted to focus on it for my personal study. I want to document my experiences of growing up with only women around me, telling a story of my life so far as well as my grandmother’s and my mum’s. I think I have had quite a unique upbringing with the strong influence of women in my life, and I want to show this in my work.
https://www.hannahaltmanphoto.com/indoorvoices#28 An artist I am inspired by for this project, who documents the delicate relationship between a mother and daughter – Hannah Altman and her project “Indoor Voices.”
How do you wish to develop your project?
I am going to develop my project with lots of different types of shoots and ideas. I want to develop my project from my previous work photographing my mum and grandmother, which I think was my most successful work so far. I enjoyed photographing my family and it made the process a lot more enjoyable as I was producing work with personal meaning. I would like to produce multiple series of portraits of my mum and grandmother, in their homes and places significant to them and their lives in Jersey. I also want to use archive images as part of my project, which is something I included in my last project with my family which I loved. I want to create images of important places for my family as well, such as my home and my grandmother’s. As well as photographing landscapes, I want to photograph closer-up still-life images of particular things in my house as well as my grandmother’s, specifically things linked closely to family and personal identity.
I also want to conduct interviews with both members of my family on the subject of family, and also other things related to my project. I will do these handwritten, so I can include them in my photo book and create photo collages. Photocollages are a medium which I love to use in my photography and have been previously successful in my past work on family, and I want to develop this in my personal study. I want to incorporate the words and ideas from my interviews with my family into my later work, both to help me with the direction of my shoots and also actually include them in photomontages.
Below is a link to my previous photomontage work, an example of successful outcomes on the idea of family previous to this personal study.
As well as this, I am interested in the idea of having my family write on images of themselves and each other, and contrasting the ideas they write of each other and themselves. This is inspired by the photographer Jim Goldberg, who used this technique in his projects, specifically Raised by Wolves, and Rich and Poor. This inspired me as the subject’s opinion of a photo of them or someone else in the project is often overlooked, and I think in my documentation of family, this is an interesting way of showing relationships and different feelings towards ourselves and each other.
When and where do you intend to begin your study?
For my personal study, I want to begin by gathering images of my own home and my grandmother’s home, as well as objects within the home more closely. After that, I then plan to begin portraits of my mother and grandmother, both separately and then together. An important part of my family is the relationship between the two, and I want to include a series of the two together in my grandmother’s house. It is tricky when photographing your own family, and am doing some research into the problems that can occur when doing this. So far, I have read this article, which I found super helpful.
https://witness.worldpressphoto.org/the-ethics-of-documenting-your-own-family-7225ca8bd59a
I am thinking of starting with photographing around the homes which I’m focusing on because this will familiarlise me with the light in both my house and my grandmother’s, and will also help me to gain inspiration for places to shoot in both homes and the further direction of the project. Another starting point for my project is starting with portraits, specifically double portraits. The idea is that I could include myself in these portraits, to produce outcomes all 3 generations of women in my family in front of the camera. This will be challenging as I haven’t made self – portraits before, but it is something I’m willing to try. If it doesn’t turn out well, I still can show all 3 generations but without me in front of the camera.
Make sure you describe how you interpret the theme of ‘islandness’, the subject matter, topic or issue you wish to explore, artists’ references/ inspirations and outcome – photobook or film.
What makes Jersey special to you?
Jersey is special to me because of the way it influences Identity. I think that my family, the focus of my project, have especially been influenced by Jersey – the environment, the attitudes towards things here, the way they act and their interests. I think Jersey has unique characteristics and attitudes towards things, making it very special to me.
What are the distinct qualities of island life?
There are lots of defining qualities of island life in my opinion. For example there is a strong sense of community in the island, within different cultures and parishes. Furthermore, in Jersey there are outstanding areas of natural beauty which make the island unique.
A sense of place and identity?
For a lot of islanders, there are specific places that feel at home to them. This may be a beach, a parish, a home or even within a community. These places give comfort and hold strong memories for Jersey residents and are crucial parts of many people’s identities.
