On Tuesday 25th February I attended the Miniclick Leeds: FAMILY talk with Thomas Duffield and Simon Weldon, which took place at The Brunswick in Leeds. Both of the photographers work focused on the representation of relationships within their families.
Simon Weldon’s To you all from us focuses on the photographers relationship with his late Father, who passed away following his problems with alcoholism, and also aims to find resolution after his passing.
The collection consists of a number of portraits of Weldon’s Father and Mother, as well as other matter relevant to their relationship. Amongst the more recent images captured by Weldon, are his Fathers personal archive of self-printed photographs, consisting of snapshots from Weldon’s Fathers everyday life.
Upon looking at the extensive archive, Weldon has commented that the collection doesn’t provide clarity towards his Fathers path, due to missing imagery and a lack of chronological order amongst it. Weldon’s work aims to reflect the impermanent nature of life, as well as acting as a remembrance of his Father.
Thomas Duffield’s Just couldn’t get the shoes to fit centres around the shift in caring responsibilities and changes within his relationship with his Grandfather as they both age. Duffield has commented that his Grandfather served as a strong and influential Father figure in his life. Now that Duffield’s Grandfather is ageing, he has began to display a new vulnerability, through asking Duffield to do things like button up his shirt and open the pickle jar for him. Duffield has commented that through these changes he has began to face the responsibilities and personal insecurities whilst taking his place as a young man in the adult world.
Upon listening to both photographers speak about their work, this encouraged me to think about the events that have occurred which are significant to my family, and how these can be portrayed.
I liked how the photographers used a variety of subject matter and not just your average portraiture to explore what was relevant in their family relationships. I particularly liked how Weldon explored the effects of his Fathers alcoholism on not only himself, but on his Mother. I found that the work was emotional and very engaging, due to the magnitude of this issue on the entire family being explored. If I were to produce work about my own family I would also like my photographic response to consist of a variety of subject matter.
Attending the talk allowed me to ask questions directly to the photographers, which helped to deepen my understanding of their work. The event also provided networking and potential collaboration opportunities, and I am keen to attend future Miniclick talks for these reasons.
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