Home is not just a physical space but a feeling, person or even an object. A home embodies safety and belonging to most. But for far too many, it represents danger and isolation. This project shows us the comfort and familiarity a home can offer, but there is a discomfort here too - it is tinged with sorrow, confinement and the distorting effects of memory, time, and space.
I have always struggled to get along with my mother. Our connection was built off anxieties and fear. Over the course of a year, I made work that acts as a window into my life and an encapsulation of my attempt to break down the issues of identity, objectification, and painful memories from my past. Time and space have enabled me to move past the memories of my childhood and as the years have passed, I now have a deeper understanding and affection for my mum, and her misdirected attempts to communicate love with me.
The images in this project are an authentic review of my memories growing up in the north of England – the photographs navigate the rocky terrain of love, conflict, time, and place. Nostalgia can be a metamorphosis to memories. It is what ties the past to the present. Along with family album photos, the photographs in this project are taken as I revisited prominent locations in the memories from my past. Some of them fond, and others less so. They include places like my local park where I spent a lot of time, the house where my mum grew up, and the architecture that shapes the town that I was raised in.
This project is a memoir to the intimate relationships I had with people and places and the impacts they have on me today. It will never be fully complete, so long as my curiosity to explore my childhood is still present.