© Wendy Aldiss

Shutter Hub member Wendy Aldiss has launched a Kickstarter campaign for her book ‘My Father’s Things’. We’ve been delighted to show selected images from Wendy’s project at a number of our exhibitions, including the Shutter Hub OPEN at the Old Truman Brewery, London and Gallery 5&33, Amsterdam and EVERYTHING I EVERY LEARNT at Art at the ARB, University of Cambridge.

We’re really excited to see this beautiful book come to life, and we think you will be too! Below, Wendy shares a bit more with us about the book, and how you can, if you’d like to, support the project through Kickstarter and buy a copy for yourself.

 

© Wendy Aldiss

© Wendy Aldiss

“Whenever we pass through the front door of someone’s house, especially a new friend or acquaintance, we are drawn into impressions and atmospheres of mood, texture, and the culture of a dwelling. Perhaps we think about how that household coheres with our own sense of self and way of life. Often, perhaps without quite knowing it, thoughts turn to the style of rooms, the furniture and other things that might signify an attitude, personality, or a commitment to a particular way of living. We might think to ourselves: how does the person or people living here move about and occupy these rooms? Our dwellings are living expressions to ordinary, common patterns of existence: sitting, reading, talking, working, watching television and movies, preparing meals, celebrating, crying, laughing, eating, drinking, sex, and sleeping. By stepping into this book, one can dwell inside a life in photographs.”

This is the beginning of the essay by Dr Margaret Gibson that is included in my book ‘My Father’s Things’. My father died in 2017. After the initial weeks of grieving the realisation grew as to how much I was missing photographing him, as well as missing him. Taking photographs has long been a way for me to cope with upset and adversity, as well as to rejoice in people and places.

I began taking photographs of his things and that both kept me near to him and prepared me for the clearing away of his possessions. Over the following nine months I photographed everything that he had left behind at the hour of his death; all his worldly goods. It was quite a journey.

In my exploration of his world I came across things that I had expected to find – e.g. his clothes, birthday cards and many, many books – and other items that were a surprise e.g. notes written to me and my siblings, paintings and early letters. The resulting photographic series, ‘My Father’s Things’, comprises 9000+ images, many of them surprisingly beautiful.  From these I have taken a selection and they are now to appear in a beautifully designed book (Design by Maggi Smith).

Although it is a depiction of a single person’s property, writer Brain Aldiss, this book has a universality. Having to sort out the things belonging to one’s deceased loved ones is an experience that touches the lives of many. Separated from their surroundings, these images prompt the viewer to contemplate the intrinsic merits of design and utility in the objects we handle and to consider their own possessions; the importance they have attached to them and what will become of them after their own passing.  I am thankful that a unique set of circumstances contributed to the successful completion of my project:  my geographical and emotional proximity to my father; enjoying 24 hour access to his house and possessions; having an understanding family; and, although working against the clock, sufficient time to photograph everything. Without these, such a task would have been impossible.

My father had amassed an extensive library; almost every book on the shelves contained pages of particular interest bearing his mark. He owned recordings of music from all over the world and artworks, many his own, filled the walls. Looking at these still life images, there is just as much interest in the everyday objects such a nailbrush, a pair of shoes, the contents of a desk drawer, as in the more unusual – his literary awards and medals.

– Wendy Aldiss, October 2020

© Wendy Aldiss

© Wendy Aldiss

Pre-order your copy of this unique book full of colour images made of Wendy’s father’s things – right down to his paper clips. The images not only create a portrait of the person but chart design through the decades and prompt questions about one’s own family members and how we keep certain possessions forever.