LOST DAUGHTER
This project explores grief, death and beauty with the aim of having conversations arounD these unspoken things..
Lost Daughter explores and reveals the journey of Ophelia through the wild and into the water, through her grief and the natural beauty around her. They show the sensory journey from land and eventually in the water. The tonal palette is soft & feminine, natural with not too many bold colours.
How the idea camE about…
It is inspired by the much-loved Pre-Raphaelite painting by British artist Sir John Everett Millais in 1852. Ophelia lays motionless on the water, eyes heavenward. The first time I saw it in the Tate Britain a few years ago, I was captivated by every inch of the canvas. Elizabeth Sidall was the model who was actually an artist in her own right (her work being exhibited at the Tate in 2023) and she modelled to fund her own work. Nature is depicted and regarded as important as the subject something that the Pre-Raphealites were renowned for. Nature was important in these set of images too firstly as the backdrop (and another character in the scene) and secondly the flowers chosen to dress the scene are symbolic and correlate to the narrative as included in Shakepeare’s original text. As a beauty- seeker, nature is necessary for my own mental wellbeing and grounding and being near water is particularly healing, teaching me about the transient nature of my emotions.
“Beauty can emerge from the darkness”
Research and personal connection to the theme
Although the subject matter is about her losing her life after the death of her father in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the original image has always filled me with hope. So although I wanted there to be a raw and melancholic element to my images, I also want to portray beauty and optimism. Anyone who has journeyed through grief will recognise how our senses are heightened to see beauty when we find ourselves in dark places. There is a duality and paradox to beauty and sadness, something echoed recently when I saw Yayoi Kusama’s Chandelier of Grief.
This project came from a deep internal desire to explore the character of Ophelia and make her inner world visible. Only once I started did I realise how deeply I resonated with the material and how it would help me express the loss of my own father in childhood.
why this project is important and timely
There is no greater time than now to express, consider and learn about the complexities of grief especially in our Western culture where we have very few rituals surrounding death. Considering what we are facing in our modern world, it has never seemed more urgent. Our collective grief of the global pandemic and the recent queen’s death as well as increasing polarisation, cost of living crisis and mental health pandemic, especially for young people. I hope for this project to give space to consider, sit with and express grief as well as educate and support those who are grieving close to us. With listening ears, an open heart and education we can do much better. And we may even start our own personal odyssey with grief through shared experiences and creativity.
behind the scenes
I gathered a creative team together one evening by the Quaggy river in Chinbrook meadows in the London Borough of Lewisham near my home, using my Leica SL2, vintage filters and one flash. These offered me to shoot in a way to create and capture the hauntingly beautiful subject and scene. I’m very grateful to my model Anna-May, florist Rosie, make up artist Nicole, young photographer Nicole assisting and director of photography John Ford for trusting me and helping me bring Lost Daughter to life.
“Grief isn’t something to get over but get into fully. It’s heartbreak isn’t a malady but can be a portal to depth and communion, ripening into a grounded bareness of being that guides into deeper and far more humane ways of being.”
Exhibition
My goal is to have a space to have an immersive and sensory experience of the images, panel talks from death/grief experts and creative workshops to help us access material within us that needs to be expressed. I envisage the space with music/soundscape from the location of the shoot, floral arrangements/meadow to arouse smells and grounding us in the natural world and enough space for creative writing, movement and photography workshops. I would like to achieve this in Spring 2023.
Themes
Themes include mental health, grief, loss, Shakespeare, Pre-raphaelite imagery, feminine beauty, floral symbolism, Hamlet, female voices, untold stories, female empowerment, bereavement, anticipatory grief, death rituals
getting involved
To bring this all to fruition, I’m looking for:
experts on death and grief to be panelists
grief/bereavement/mental health charities to consult and advocate their work
anyone interested in the theme or with stories to tell to be part of a research group (1 meeting online before Christmas)
local or London based art galleries/spaces to host the event
creative and trauma-informed artists to lead workshops
“Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o-er wrought heart and bids it break.”
I didn’t realise the importance for my own journey with grief and personal healing that making these images would have on me. On the shoot we were all very moved by the moment and we want to translate and replicate that profound experience for us into a profound experience for you. Read more of my story of losing my dad in childhood and why I passionately believe in the power of creativity and expression of emotions over here on my blog. Having felt numb for many years, I want others to avoid the destructiveness that avoiding my emotions had on my life.
Listen here to the playlist we listened to as we captured the images one summer’s eve.
Looking forward to sharing this all with the world soon.
With love and hope,
Donna x
P.S. If you’re struggling with grief right now please talk to someone close to you or reach out to a professional therapist. There are also resources in my blog above.