Documentary photographer and alumni from Kingston Sophie harris-Taylor recently came to give us a talk concerning her personal and editorial works, which I found deeply interesting and relevant to my own practice.
Her initial interest in lay in banality, inspired by the works of Nan Goldin and Elinor Carruici because of the honesty and truth of their work, something I feel is so important in the documentary practise, especially when completing something so personal. Her work focuses on memory, time and place, shot on 35mm in the snapshot style, documenting something there and then, with no poise or staging, which adds to this sense of honesty. Her work involves natural lighting and the homes environment, even when doing more editorial work. This tells me of her need to make subjects comfortable and her understanding of how important the home is as a place of memory and domesticity, thus perfect as a backdrop. Her 2014 project ‘Sister’ illustrates this introspective of family, as she looks at understanding her own flawed relationship through other people as she photographs sisters around the country in their homes, with accompanying captions of what they were saying.
I love this use of words to narrate and add context, it brings me back to the work of Sophie Calle, an initial inspiration for my work since I began photography. The words also allow us to build more of a portrait of the person depicted and add to this documentary component of telling a story.
Harris-Taylor also brought her own personal stance into her editorial and commercial work, with ‘Epidermis’, a series about people with skin conditions. It came about after feeling an anxiety herself about her skin and doing touch ups on images, bringing us back to her initial interest in honesty and wanting to show the truth. It was shot like beauty campaign to juxtapose conventional standards, and led to a piece for ID and an exhibition. For me it was enriching to hear about someone creating work that they still enjoy and felt was their own but in a more commercial and editorial sense, which gives me hope for the future.
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