Abstract
Reconnecting with my father in 2016 in the hopes of building a better relationship between us, I had sought to use photography as a way to bring us closer together and to explore how his struggle with addiction affected our family life. Unprepared for the challenges that the subject matter presented, and what my uniquely close relationship to it would entail, I instead spent four years regularly meeting my father only for the camera to remain packed in its bag.Concerned about the process of representing my father directly through photography, the traditionally one-sided power dynamic associated with photographic representation risked being exploitative of my father’s situation. Speaking for him, rather than alongside him, and potentially transforming his struggle into a commodity. Searching for ways to move beyond this inadequate mode of representation, the period of time spent apprehensive about the prospect of photographing my father was used to engage my maternal grandfather, mother, and grandmother in photographic work that experimented with more collaborative and performative photographic strategies.
As a result of carrying these strategies forward in the approach to finally working with my father, a unique photographic methodology was refined in order to negotiate the challenges of the subject matter and facilitate collaboration with my mother and father on the project Poppy Promises (2023). Setting forth this methodology as a new contribution to knowledge, this practice-led research explores the role of collaboration and performance within photographic practice as a means to receptively ‘listen’ with the camera and negotiate the close proximity of depicting one’s own family life.
| Date of Award | 24 Jun 2024 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Supervisor | Liam Devlin (Main Supervisor) & Yan Preston (Co-Supervisor) |