Mum & Dad

In 2000 my parents decided we were going to move from our home in the South-West of England to live in rural France where they believed we would have a better quality of life. “Mum & Dad” centres on my parents and their day to day life there, thirteen years on. 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. The photographic process has become somewhat of a family activity for us, often fun and sometimes bordering on performance. I initially thought that through this project I would end up with a more intimate insight into expatriate life. Although this theme is still present here, the focus is my parents and their life, nationality and expatriate life become a part of the context rather that the focal point. This personal and intimate project has spanned events ranging from my Dad’s last days working as a gardener for other expats to entering full time retirement, their first time moving house since they moved to France and all the more mundane aspects the day to day.