Ellen Nolan - Previous Personality

When I was in a lecture with Ellen Nolan I found her work really fascinating. It was very personal to her and whilst she was telling us about why and how she created her body of work I was really drawn in to her story, the tone of her voice had meaning and a purpose to it making me really respect her work and sharing it with us. I am more of a personal person, it sounded like she was tell us a story from a book. Each word she would have a deep attachment and meaning to it. In other lectures it’s usually about other people’s work so there's obviously not the same attachment and something that is personal that you've achieved yourself.

‘Previous Personality’ explores my relationship to my mother as she recedes into dementia. I started photographing my mother and myself when she stopped recognizing me as her daughter. The documentation lasted for three years, exploring a journey of reversal and erosion. The title ‘Previous Personality’ is derived from a section in the form I had to fill out for my mother, upon admission to her institution.

There is a strangeness of being inherent in this condition, an altered state where the family member shifts into another being, whilst retaining the physical appearance of their former selves.

Photographically, I tried to reflect this state by creating images that are simultaneously uncomfortable and aesthetically pleasing. This mirrored the interior and exterior conflict of the illness.

My clothes were used as a visual reminder that whilst I had the freedom of personal expression, members of staff now chose my mother’s wardrobe, brought from a generic clothing company that visited the home on a monthly basis. I never got used to seeing my mother in these clothes, and together with her growing sense of alienation within her ‘home’, they came to visually represent her loss of self.

What remains when almost everything is stripped away? A silent negotiation took place through emotional and physical intimacy. Few words were exchanged, except repeated uttering’s of love and the remembering who I am and who she was.

Photography as a medium seemed to serve the situation well. It was a record to capture my dying mother, a means to examine our state, and perhaps to create an alternative family album.

Photography also seemed to fit the muteness of illness and ageing.

I felt that by joining the frame, I would challenge my position and safety as a photographer to explore my role as a daughter and my relationship with my mother at this time.

http://www.ellennolan.com/Art/Previous-Personality/previous-personality.html