Experimentation with a collection of found photographs. I started with the intentions of creating new images from the old, abstracting what I have learned about the emotional effects of migration on identity. There has been much work around this belief of people experiencing an ‘identity crisis’, belonging to two places at once. Feeling at home in their host country but continuing to have strong connections, emotions and memories to their home country. This in turn leads to a sort of detachment from both place leaving people in the middle like they don’t belong anywhere. This is an experience I have felt myself since moving to Manchester from rural Ireland 8 years ago as well as a few years living in Scotland.
Using ‘lost’ family photographs and found objects from the North Coast of Ireland, I created a new series of images from the old, by way of considered placement and rephotographing.
Thinking about the loss of identity of people over time, I considered how they have become nameless, similar to the thousands of migrants who eventually just become a statistic. I wanted to remove the faces of subjects to conceal their identity as a sort of censorship and representation of the many people and families affected by migration and border crossings.
Some interventions with the photos involved a ‘cut/incision line’ which almost acts as a border wall. Separating one half of the image from the other creating an uneasy visual splinter.
A creation of new imagined, faceless characters with humorous undertones. They generate elements of curiosity because of their oddness and unfamiliarity.