She Becomes an Inaccessible Ghost
Lo-fi book proof of photography taken on Portland in response to Thomas Hardy’s The Well-Beloved.
Text from the novel by Hardy juxtaposed with contemporary photographs taken whilst visiting my sister and mum who live on Portland. Many of the photographs capture a moment in time where my mum was renovating a house that was previously owned by an eccentric old man who hosted a nightclub there called "Smirkles" (all mirror tiles and chintz.) The Smirkles garden had been ornamented with cheap concrete sculptures and were hand-painted by a local artist. They sat within nests of overgrown bracken and ragwort. Something about them resonated with me when reading The Well Beloved.
Other photographs were taken in various locations around the island.
I was planning to reshoot and edit the book. The lockdowns prevented that from happening, and my mum’s garden now looks very different. I may print this iteration of the book properly if I feel there’s a demand, but for the time being I only have this lo-fi “print on demand” proof version. It’s nice as it is though IMHO!
Lo-fi book proof of photography taken on Portland in response to Thomas Hardy’s The Well-Beloved.
Text from the novel by Hardy juxtaposed with contemporary photographs taken whilst visiting my sister and mum who live on Portland. Many of the photographs capture a moment in time where my mum was renovating a house that was previously owned by an eccentric old man who hosted a nightclub there called "Smirkles" (all mirror tiles and chintz.) The Smirkles garden had been ornamented with cheap concrete sculptures and were hand-painted by a local artist. They sat within nests of overgrown bracken and ragwort. Something about them resonated with me when reading The Well Beloved.
Other photographs were taken in various locations around the island.
I was planning to reshoot and edit the book. The lockdowns prevented that from happening, and my mum’s garden now looks very different. I may print this iteration of the book properly if I feel there’s a demand, but for the time being I only have this lo-fi “print on demand” proof version. It’s nice as it is though IMHO!
Lo-fi book proof of photography taken on Portland in response to Thomas Hardy’s The Well-Beloved.
Text from the novel by Hardy juxtaposed with contemporary photographs taken whilst visiting my sister and mum who live on Portland. Many of the photographs capture a moment in time where my mum was renovating a house that was previously owned by an eccentric old man who hosted a nightclub there called "Smirkles" (all mirror tiles and chintz.) The Smirkles garden had been ornamented with cheap concrete sculptures and were hand-painted by a local artist. They sat within nests of overgrown bracken and ragwort. Something about them resonated with me when reading The Well Beloved.
Other photographs were taken in various locations around the island.
I was planning to reshoot and edit the book. The lockdowns prevented that from happening, and my mum’s garden now looks very different. I may print this iteration of the book properly if I feel there’s a demand, but for the time being I only have this lo-fi “print on demand” proof version. It’s nice as it is though IMHO!