Migration Museum - Here and There - 2019/2020

7 portraits - C-type paper 

Interviews conducted in person and over WhatsApp updated over 1 year.

Portrait series commissioned by the Migration Museum. Part of 'Departures - a new immersive exhibition exploring 400 years of emigration from Britain from the Mayflower to the present day through personal narratives, contemporary art and a range of media. 

My piece 'Here and There' looks at the stories and emotions experienced by those emigrating today. Emigrating is as much an emotional journey as a physical one. It forces us to ask fundamental questions about what we consider important and essential.

I photographed and interviewed people on the day they were emigrating from the UK, off to live in Botswana, Paris, New Zealand, Canada, Berlin, Texas. A time filled with a high mix of emotions. What do you leave and what do you bring with you? What does home mean? These questions are asked today just as they would have been when the Pilgrims embarked on the Mayflower 400 years ago. Here and There considers this emotional journey through photographic portraiture, found photography and interviews.

Brexit was a big reason for people leaving, but what I didn’t expect as I embarked on the journey, was that Covid was just around the corner, and many of those who emigrated would find themselves in Lockdown soon after they arrived. I continued my contact with hem all, asking the same questions as I had when they left. How did they change? Around half of the participants returned after a year, but a year of being trapped indoors in a strange place with no chance of making a new network of friends. My continuing contact with them on WhatsApp felt more and more important as Covid continued, even as I drifted into my own lockdown induced depression.

The project has become an historical document of the pandemic.