Artist Statement

This very personal project documents my relationship with my mother, from the time of my father’s death in 1995 until her own death in 2007. My mother suffered from severe clinical depression and anxiety, both before and during this period. Living 170 miles away from her home I tried to give her whatever practical help I could, but I was never able to give her the emotional support that she needed.

The end product of the course project takes the form of a photo book in which I have combined text with images that blend archival ‘family snaps’ with photographs produced specifically for this work. In the book I have illustrated the decline in my mother’s health during her later years, tried to convey my feelings and emotions during the period and portrayed how the illness profoundly affected those who were close to her.

Through the combination of text and images I have tried to provoke empathy in the viewer/reader and to encourage an understanding of how devastating the impact of the ‘hidden disease’ of clinical depression can be – not just on the sufferers, but on those around them too.

The book features themes of memory, loss, grief, regret and letting go. I can’t change what happened in my mother’s final years, but I can try to explain why what happened did happen and I can dedicate the book to her memory.