My work has a strong focus on identity, both individual and collective. Having been born in England and having moved to France aged ten I have been intrigued by the reasons why people choose to leave their mother country to live abroad, when their country of origin is socially and economically stable.
In the past I have tried to build a collective profile through portraiture and home interiors of British and French people living abroad in order to better understand the identity of those who chose expatriation.
The project "Mum & Dad" shares common ideas with my other work but takes on a more personal and intimate dimension as it centres on my own parents and their day to day life in France - the photographic process has become somewhat of a family activity for us, often fun and sometimes bordering on performance. The work touches on various levels of identity and the relationships between them: from national to individual, the couple and gender, the family, parent - child.
I initially thought that through this project I would end up with a more intimate insight into expatriate life. Although this element is still present here, it is much more about my parents and their life, nationality and expatriate life become a part of the context rather that the focal point.
Analogue film plays a large part in my work, all of my images are made by being captured in this way. Digital technology only comes into play afterwards when I scan the negatives and edit the image files. When I print images this is done through a combined process of analogue and digital: digital C-Type printing. This working process, blending older and newer technologies, is integral to my practice as it provides a creative framework within which to work and explore.
