Artifact Motherhood May 2022 | Studying through still life

The beginning Of Mice And Men It's 9.05am as I write this and five whole minutes into the start of your first GCSE exam. I honestly believe that I'm more nervous than you, which wouldn't be too hard given that my approach to school exams at your age was wildly different. I chose a difficult route back then, one you know some of the story of. So here in this moment, I want to acknowledge…

Seasons of Motherhood April 2022 | the toys we have on us

Delving back into the family archives, not just hers but mine. When I saw her defiantly clutching Fiona from Shrek, on her last day of meithrin (nursery) before starting school, I knew there was a similar look in the eye from me. I delved further back and found one, a little younger then she is and clutching what looks to be an Elf from the Shelf? With that same look, one I see seasoned and…

Seasons of Motherhood February 2022 | my teen teen-self and me

At the beginning of this year, I stood eye-to-eye with my feisty and rebellious teenaged-self, telling her that I was no longer ashamed of her. In recent months, I've tried keeping her apart from my 15-year-old daughter.  Now as we navigate our way through some turbulent mother-daughter times, I'm beginning to honour her, to recognise that she was a pinnacle survivor of some tricky times I…

Discarded With Honour | The Artists Collaboration

"Among my most prized possessions are words that I have never spoken." Orson Scott Card Discarded With Honour is a photographic project which began for me at the start of 2021. I'd spent the best part of the year before, looking around our house at the hoards of stuff we had collected over the decades. I found myself thinking about the significance and meaning of these objects that…

Coast to Coast Project November 2021 | back to where I began

A full year of 12 monthly sea stories later I find myself back to where I began. Only this time standing and looking across the River Severn to home in Wales. It is hard to believe that a year has passed since I joined the Coast to Coast project, created and facilitated by documentary photographer and friend, Rachel Rimell. Casting my mind back to January 2021, locked in and longing for the…

Discarded With Honour | Exploring Gender

Exploring Gender It was only at the beginning of this year that Leo began to acknowledge that the gender they were assigned at birth didn't feel right. So when Leo offered me the gift to help them creatively explore a part of their non-binary journey, I knew it might be one of the most precious gifts I’d ever received. It became an open and sensitive dialogue between us, where there was no…

Coast to Coast project | a slice of stormy light

A landscape that is always changing. Matching my thoughts and ideas, giving new perspectives with new angles. We had driven for over five hours from Wales, to visit family in the south east of England. So as the sun sank low and the storm chased us from the west, I found little pre-stormy slices of glorious evening light on this beach. Where we ran around like loons while the wind howled…

Artifact Motherhood October 2021 | No Photos Please

Can I photograph you? I cannot quite pinpoint the exact time you started saying no, though it feels like it might be for much of this year by now.  Looking through our family albums I notice that I don't feature much. I know I'm there, you know I'm there, forever (silently) clicking away. It's just in those years to come, when I want to think of you opening the pages and being able to see…

Coast to Coast Project September 2021 | a pier for all reasons

A pier always with reason throughout the seasons We made a late summer pre-back-to-school trip, to visit our family in Hastings earlier this month. I know I've mentioned this before... my draw to this pier. I honestly see and experience something new each time. Across the seasons, the way the light falls with the ever changing weather and the diversity of activities that are held here. It…

A morning with Masha Manapov | illustrator and designer

A photographic commission for Oh Magazine "Sometimes I imagine myself sitting by a giant window on a rainy day with a big mug of tea, two mongrel dogs by my feet, overlooking the Welsh hills while contemplating my craft..." Masha is an award-winning illustrator and designer, who I got to engage in a little craftivism with one sunny morning in Bristol, for a commission with Oh Magazine Born in…