Artist website
Make it stand out.
The relationship you have with your Grandparents, more often than not, is a unique one. I’ve often found that people have been especially close to their Grandparents, or distant for unexplained, or explained, unfortunate circumstances. Luckily I fell into the category of having a special type of relationship with all of my Grandparents. A relationship which grew stronger as I grew older, my comprehension of their love for me and their selflessness only grew. I have too many fond memories to relay, and too much love to be conveyed. Therefore the only way I knew in which to encapsulate any relationship was through my practice, hence ‘In Loving Memory Of’.
Starting off as an investigation into contemporary translation of the traditional working-class, it snowballed into a hybrid between that and the close relationship between my Nan and myself. Eager to not document her directly, I captured everything around her, that surmised her and her generation. In doing so it rendered the work accessible to a wider demographic, with no specific person included.
Nonetheless, without that relationship the work never would have existed. In extension, not only the work, but the very fabric of my being would have been different. Although I’d always pitch the work as an investigation into the working-class, I was fortunate enough to arrive at that through my Nan. It was just at that point in my life I was spending more and more time with her, so it was the natural thing to do. It’s crucial not to lose sight of this, and to acknowledge always the impact she has had, and will always have on my life.
Although we’re at a different time and place now, and we can’t see one another, my memories of you and between us are always the most loving of memories.
Thanks to Arts Council Emergency Funding we were able to support Neal to work on this photobook during lockdown.