Round-about Fifty: What we cannot see. Update.
Across 2023 I photographed 35 women aged round about fifty. I wanted to create portraits that reflected what it is like to be this age in the UK today. When I turned fifty myself, I saw few images of women my age that I could relate to, or be inspired by. And yet, this cohort of women are achieving so much worth celebrating. They are often caring for both the younger and the older generation, while holding positions of considerable responsibility at work. Why are they largely invisible from public discourse and life?
So, in late 2022, I put out a call for women aged round about fifty to be photographed, and I was overwhelmed by volunteers who also wanted to make women like themselves more visible. They felt that this was a way to do something about it.
What do we not see?
I was curious: when society largely ignores a cohort of people, what are they missing and does it matter? Women who do not see themselves represented in the visual culture can feel alienated. It is like nobody understands their concerns and priorities. Even though these women are making huge contributions to society, their effort is often unrecognised and under-celebrated.
A new-found confidence
While some women feel unnoticed, others told me that they feel more comfortable in their own skin than they did when they were younger. They find the lack of societal expectation liberating. This made them brilliant subjects for my camera. They said that after all these years they have learnt to accept themselves for who they are and it is quite a relief. I think that is visible in the portraits.
Lots of expertise
The women who I met were very experienced in what they do and have a lot to offer. As one sitter put it “When you reach this age, you have seen most things before and you can say ‘I’ve got this. I know what to do.’” Why is this wisdom and expertise so often dismissed?
Lingering discrimination
There has been lots of progress over recent decades in terms of gender equality, but women are still overlooked. The people I met wonder whether this is also because of their age. One woman talked about how awkward she finds promoting herself even though she is an expert in her field:“Sometimes we neglect being our own cheerleaders”. There are many social forces at play.
Feeling overwhelmed
Fifty something women are often shouldering the double burden of care for teenage children and ageing parents. They have to compartmentalise their work and their home lives and may feel like they are only just managing. This can turn up a whole range of different emotions but as one woman put it “I think it’s easy to feel lost at this stage of life because you are looking after everyone else. I feel like I need to burrow out and be myself.”
On a threshold
In spite of being overwhelmed, I often heard how this age feels like an important transition into a new life stage. It’s a time to find new challenges and adventures. It’s not always easy, but as one person said “This is a time when you can still take on new things. Be adventurous and grab some of the excitement of life with both hands.”
Dealing with the menopause
Thankfully, the menopause is not as invisible as it used to be, and many of the women talked about how they were affected. For some it is a huge challenge, for others it barely registers. Most seem to fall somewhere in-between. Luckily, with more openness, and awareness, there are lots of options for women to find help.
It’s not as bad as we thought
When I first started researching this project, I was somewhat fearful about the stage of life I was entering. I felt nervous about looking too closely. It seems my emotions are widely shared. One woman I met was only forty but already worrying about turning fifty. However, again and again, I learnt that for many, the experience of turning fifty has been more positive than expected.
As a society we are much stronger if we can recognise the contributions of everyone: not just the young, the glamorous and the strong. Round-about Fifty shows a group of bright and competent women who are looking forward to the next phase of their lives. They feel overwhelmed with responsibilities, buffered by hormones and discriminated against but they are contributing massively to society.
I hope that these portraits will direct more well-deserved attention towards this very impressive and yet frequently overlooked cohort of people.
Fran Monks, February 2024.
Round-about Fifty: What we cannot see.
Anyone who has followed my work at all, will know how passionate I am about the power of portraits to make a difference. Pictures of other humans can inspire us deeply. We instinctively search for something that we recognise and - subconsciously or not - we judge ourselves based on what we see. In the best cases we can be moved into action.
With this in mind, I realised in my early fifties, that I had entered a life-stage where there were very few portraits of women my age to relate to and be inspired by. The majority of pictures of women my age seem to pander to stereotypes and clichés: Women fanning themselves, head in hands, tossing sleeplessly in bed or perhaps silver haired and stylish with a group of friends on a beach. I feel like there is a much more interesting story to tell. Middle aged women are often busier than they have ever been, working and caring for others; Looking after younger and older generations. However, in spite of their significant contributions to society, they are largely invisible in the visual media.
So, I decided to make a series of pictures that felt authentic, which I hope will give women in their middle years a chance to recognise themselves. Given that I am of that certain age, I feel well placed to train my camera and therefore people’s attention onto what it is really like to be round-about fifty and a woman. I know that women of this age are living very interesting, varied and important lives while juggling the many balls of responsibility that they hold. I know that my peers do not fit neatly into the stereotypes that I see portrayed and I want to show that.
I put out the call around Oxford for women aged round-about fifty who might want to be photographed and represent their age group and I was overwhelmed with volunteers. These were women who would not normally choose to be photographed, but wanted to do their bit to address the general feeling of being unseen and unheard.
I’m about 2/3 through the project now and I have uncovered a fantastic variety of strong and inspiring women. We have had wide-ranging conversations and I have tried to crystallise something from each one. Many of the women recognise that having got this far in life they have picked up quite a lot of experience that enables them to cope with most of the challenges they face. But many feel their skills and knowledge are not always acknowledged (and that they don’t always find it comfortable to promote themselves). Some notice an increasing feeling of invisibility and vulnerability with age. At the same time many express the sentiment “Now that I’m over fifty, what have I got to lose?”. These are women who want to be intentional about the next stage of their lives, and to make the most of the time that they have.
Whether they have had children or not, many notice that it feels like they are on an important threshold to the non-reproductive years of their lives.
Every woman who I have photographed seems to get that they are part of a cohort of women with whom they have a lot of empathy. Although, one of the frustrations mentioned was that with so many responsibilities at this stage of life it is hard to spend time with other women. As one woman put it “we are going through this together but separately”.
Menopause symptoms and hormones are on the minds of many women at this age, and some said how HRT is helping them with issues like insomnia or anxiety. Others are pursuing alternative approaches to managing the ageing process: New sports, education opportunities, job moves, nose piercing, and relationships changes.
It was interesting to hear that several of the women had no recent photographs of themselves. They had been somewhat fearful of the camera because they did not normally like what they saw. Some wanted to take part in the project so that loved ones could have a picture of them. I was particularly chuffed when one woman said: “You have somehow how got me, I recognise myself in a way I almost never do in photos”. Not everyone felt that way, and I am truly grateful to these women for making themselves feel vulnerable in front of a camera so that we can make this visual record together.
My aim for the project is to help fill that gap of authentic portraits of women in these middle years. I want the women who participated to feel proud that they are part of such a brave and powerful group of women. I also hope that future historians can look back and see an honest portrayal of women who are strong, thoughtful, vulnerable, empathetic, knowledgeable, frustrated, hormonal, stretched, rebellious, experienced, adventurous and until now, somewhat unseen.
Latest Zoom Portrait Series: Climate Change Negotiators
Have you ever wondered, who are the negotiators who have been trying to make international climate agreements since the 1990s? I am always curious about people who are working away on important matters, away from spotlight. The climate change negotiators who will be gathering in Glasgow in November for the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have long intrigued me.
After over a year of shooting portraits on Zoom because of the COVID19 pandemic, I realised that I had a way making portraits of the negotiators without flying around the world, and adding to the problem that they are trying to resolve. Next, I had to convince them to be photographed. Negotiators are usually civil servants who are not accustomed to the public eye. I hunted around for a good connection until I came across a little organisation in my own city, called Oxford Climate Policy. They run courses for climate negotiators from developing countries in Oxford every year. Their managing director is Benito Muller, who was extremely generous with his network of contacts. Benito has a lot of negotiator friends and great persuasive powers!
With Benito’s help I was able to connect with negotiators around the world. From Estonia to Malawi, Norway to Bhutan, I was able to use video chat to connect with climate negotiators in their homes. Their experiences varied widely, from people who were already involved in climate negotiations prior to the establishment of the UNFCCC, to those who are leading negotiations today.
It was interesting to note the ease or difficulty of connecting with people. From those with super high speed broadband in Northern Europe, to those connecting by phone, on the roadside in Sub-Saharan Africa. I had people who could hear me while I couldn’t hear them, others who could only hear me faintly as I yelled at my computer screen. I realised how our new reality excludes some people with a wealth of knowledge and experience because their broadband or IT may not be the most up to date. This affected my ability to make a picture too, sometimes I had literally seconds to snap the screen, but these challenges and inequalities are surely reflected on the negotiating floor as well.
Many of the negotiators described their community as resembling a family. One person described it as a village, where the relationships ebb and flow, feuds arise, priorities differ and where the atmosphere can sour for years if a big argument brews. I was intrigued by the talk of compromises worked out late at night over coffee or dinner and about how difficult it is to transfer these processes on line.
After talking to over 20 negotiators and making their portraits, my overwhelming emotion was one of gratitude of how much time an intellect these people had devoted to creating a workable agreement to the climate crisis. I just hope we can take their plan and run with it, extremely fast, from Glasgow in November.
As for the Zoom photography experience, I still love popping up all over the world and making people’s pictures. Sometimes it is extremely frustrating not being able to control the light, bandwidth or technology, but the joy of making connections so far and wide, outweighs that every time.
The history of photographing screens
I’ve been reading a lot about the history of photography recently and I was delighted to discover that my Zoom portraits have a historical precedent. Kim Beil’s book Good Pictures has a whole chapter on television pictures. Apparently, in the 1950s, as TV sets were becoming more common, people started making images by photographing the screen. This gave anyone with a television, the chance to photograph events and people far from home. Popular Science Magazine gave advice on the best way to capture images in this way and ran a competition for its readers.
Since the 1950s several artists have pursued the idea. In the late 1960s and early 1970s Thomas Barrow photographed reflected TV screens in his series “The Television Montages”. In 1970 Mary Nickerson photographed the Apollo 13 splashdown via her TV. One of my favourites of the genre is Robert Heinecken’s 1987 piece Mr President..Mr President which takes TV footage of Ronald Reagan and combines it with subtitles. His portrait of TV anchor Connie Chung uses cameraless techniques to capture an image from the screen. About the same time, artist Allan McCollum photographed pictures on the set of situation comedies and soap operas. He then enlarged them, creating abstract images which he felt were more powerful that the source material.
I am sure that the pandemic will have inspired much more art to be made via the screen. I have spotted a couple of other photographers working this way, such as Tim Dunk and James Hole and I look forward to discovering more.
I have also discovered something more about the process of using a digital camera to photograph a computer screen. I have always chosen to capture my Zoom portraits this way because I like the additional artefacts that are introduced to the image. I felt they added depth, interest and texture and I did not want to hide the fact that digital layer upon digital layer was being used to create the pictures. What I did not know was why the curved lines or a grid appear. It turns out that something rather cool is occuring. Both the screen of my computer and the sensor on my camera are made up of pixel grids. When the two grids interact, you get optical effects called moiré. I now like them even more as they are a clear demonstration of the remote and digital nature of the image making.
As you can probably tell, I am still enthusiastic about the possibilities of making more portraits using video chat platforms, even when the pandemic is done (and may that be soon). I’ve realised that for many people this way of communicating has made things so much more accessible. For me, it has made it possible to photograph people on the other side of the world, while still being able to care for my family. For others, it might be making it to a meeting or a conference or a course that they otherwise would have had to miss. I’m actually pretty excited about this going forward and think that we can achieve a lot this way, and maybe do a bit less damage to the planet in the process.
What might be worth keeping from this lockdown experience?
I have been thinking about what I might miss about Zoom portraiture, when I get back to making pictures in the real world. Or, more importantly, are there things about the process that I would not want to give up, even if I could?
One obvious advantage to making portraits via video chat is that I can photograph people all over the world, so long as they have an internet connection. This has been the number one positive for me, as I love hearing what life is like in all corners of the globe. There are limits of course. I did think to myself, “Wow, I could even photograph someone in Antartica”. However, I soon learnt that over 1000 people at McMurdo Station share about the same bandwidth that we have at home. Random video calling, even for portrait making, is not permitted. So, I cannot get everywhere, but I have reached a lot of places.
Less obvious, is the kind of relationship building that Zoom allows. In pre COVID times, when people gave me a choice about where to make a portrait, I would always suggest that the sitter is on their own home turf. That way they are in their own environment and feel relatively relaxed, and the image is more likely to reflect their unique character. With Zoom, I think that effect is enhanced. Not only are people in their own homes, but I am much less intrusive on a screen than I would be in full-bodied real life. The portrait sitter is more in control. They get to choose what I see of the space, and they are the ones who position the camera; albeit under my direction. I think that people can be more honest and open with this set up. I have observed that on the whole this makes for more genuine portraits.
Finally, I love that Zoom’s format imposes a “selfie-signature” to all my pictures. A portrait subject’s expression is always, to some degree, a reflection of the photographer’s own. When I look at other people’s work, I am always asking myself, “What conversation was going on when this picture was made?” and “What caused the sitter to have this kind of expression?”. What I love about Zoom portraits is that the photograph of me in the corner, holding my camera, highlights the reality that portraits are a collaboration. It’s not just about the person you see in the final picture, it’s about the artist as well.
This Zoom portrait is of a friend of mine Gart, who lives in Komatsu, Japan.
Vaccine Trial Participants Portraits
I could never have imagined last March what it would feel like to still be in a national lockdown almost a year after the first one started, but here we are. My children are all at home again, sitting in live classes which would also have seemed incredible to me a year ago. Even over the summer months when some in-person portrait photography was possible, it happened almost entirely outdoors. I do miss real life, personal contact, but I am also delighted to be working on my sixth series of Zoom portraits since the pandemic began. This was a technique that was just a vague idea in the back of my head until the beginning of 2020, which I soon realised had found its moment. I love the fact that I can photograph someone as easily in South Korea or Colombia (apart from the time difference), as I can someone at the end of my street. The added advantage of a lot more people being at home during this period, makes it easier for me to find subjects.
The latest series of portraits is of people who are participating in the vaccine trials. We are witnessing an unprecedented global effort to develop and approve vaccines against COVID19. In the UK, three vaccines are already approved for distribution, but we need many more if we are to vaccinate all kinds of people, all over the world. The creation of these vaccines would not be possible without the people who volunteer to be part of clinical trials. These participants help to ensure that the vaccines are both safe and effective. They provide the data that allows government authorities to decide whether they wish to roll out these jabs to their populations.
I have been so inspired by the range of people who I’ve found so far. I’ve photographed people on the Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, Imperial College, Novavax, Valneva and Janssen trials. While making the portraits, I have also gathered stories. For most, it is the first time they have taken part in a medical trial. They are ordinary people, driven by a desire to do their bit to help save lives and bring an end to repeated lockdowns. I have spoken to people in a wide-range of situations. The old and young, the high risk and low risk, those with and without family support. Without their participation in the trials, front line health care workers and the most vulnerable members of the population would not be being vaccinated already, less than a year after the first case of COVID19 was reported in the UK. I feel very grateful to them.
Photographing the Expertise Exodus
Last month I was commissioned by Undark to make 8 portraits, via Zoom, of US scientists who have been pushed out of Federal Government by the Trump administration.
https://undark.org/2020/10/26/trump-expertise-exodus/
It’s so great when the pandemic actually opens up a new opportunity, rather than closes it down. Zoom photography has allowed me to meet people far and wide, across the globe. In this case, it gave me the chance to get a job that I would not have even been considered for in normal times.
I was both fascinated and horrified by the stories of the people who I had to photograph. It was shocking to hear of the apparent disregard of the Trump administration for climate science. One woman coughed through our virtual photo session because of the smoke from the wild fires outside her home, while she told me about how her bosses at the National Parks Service had insisted on removing references to human-caused climate change from a major report she wrote about the country’s national parks. Another explained how senior administration officials were working to back track on emission standards for vehicles. Yet another told how the EPA’s peer review system for scientific papers was being unravelled.
I hope that these rather unusual portraits of highly skilled individuals, mostly isolated in their homes because of a global pandemic, will have helped to draw attention to their important stories. The loss of critical scientific knowledge from a government which we really need to take action to resolve the global climate crisis, is of great concern.
The Gatehouse Women and portraiture during a pandemic
The craziness of 2020 continues, and I am trying to keep positive by making portraits in new and interesting ways to reflect the times that we live in.
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to make some images of the women involved in an Oxford Homelessness charity called the Gatehouse. The Gatehouse is a drop in cafe and community centre led by women and has many long-term female volunteers and guests. The portraits are for an outdoor exhibition which will be part of Photo Oxford in October and November. The theme of the festival is Women and Photography, and we’ve titled the image series “Strength and Resilience”. The aim is to recognise the impressive ability of many of the women connected to the Gatehouse to cope with what life throws at them.
We initially started planning to make these portraits about 9 months ago, when no one could have predicted how 2020 would unfold. We were going to do the photography in May, which turned out to be deep lockdown and so we postponed. After deciding that we could go ahead with the photos outdoors in September, I started thinking about how we could make striking images which recognised the power of these women, but also that we were in the middle of a pandemic. I had the idea about using a sneeze screen just in time to order one before the shoot. As I worried about its timely arrival, I ordered another smaller one to be sure. In fact, I think having two screens worked really well and allowed more variety of images.
I loved the visual effect of the reflections on the perspex and glass and also the possible metaphorical interpretation that the screens symbolise the invisible barriers faced by those who are vulnerably housed.
On the day of the shoot, I set up my backdrop and sneeze screens in the courtyard outside St Giles Churchhall, where the Gatehouse normally operates. People dropped in one at a time for their picture session so that there were never more than 6 people there. We had a lovely sunny day, thankfully, and I really enjoyed meeting and chatting to guests, volunteers, workers and one of the charity’s founders.
I was very keen that all the portraits were similarly respectful, and I hope that people will look at the pictures when they are displayed and consider the important contribution to society made by each woman, regardless of their housing status.
During the COVID19 pandemic the Gatehouse continued to work for their community by providing food by delivery and take away. They also gave one-to-one support to those in need. During lockdown many street homeless were housed and tenant protection was provided to the vulnerably housed. However, there remains much uncertainty about the future. We hope that these portraits will help raise awareness about the work of the Gatehouse, and hopefully help with fundraising as well.
Lockdown update, 10 weeks in....
In the UK we’ve been in lockdown for more than two months. I haven’t done an in-person portrait session since mid March. I hope that there will be an opportunity to get back to that soon. In the meantime, I have been really enjoying connecting with people for portraits via Zoom.
I was commissioned by AreWeEurope magazine to photograph 10 Europeans during lockdown. It was fascinating to check-in with people in Spain, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Italy and Sweden and also to talk to Europeans who live in the UK about their different experiences of staying a home during the pandemic.
I have also been working with the University of Huddersfield on a research project which is exploring the impact of lockdown and home education on mothers. I am making Zoom portraits of all the women who are taking part across the UK. I have loved hearing about their experiences and the challenges faced by those juggling home working with home schooling responsibilities. I have also been struck by the wide range of views on whether or not children should be returning to school at this time and also the reality of whether there is even an opportunity to attend school in some areas.
As I mentioned in my previous blog, these Zoom portraits have to be much more of a collaboration than in-person portraits. I have to communicate my wishes really clearly so that the subjects can place the laptop or other device where I want it. Sometimes there is a willing assistant in the house to hold the device. Bringing a third person into the process poses new challenges. In one case the assistant was a photographer themselves, and found it hard to let go of their own artistic vision in order to frame the picture as I wanted. In another case, I had to direct all my instructions to the subject via the headset worn by the person holding the phone. Interesting!
The pictures include much more of the subject’s environment than my previous works, but I have been really enjoying that aspect of the results. I definitely cannot be a perfectionist and sometimes the process works much better than others.
It is amazing to be able to pop up in people’s living rooms around the world via my computer. It really is fantastic to talk to so many different people with a wide range of perspectives. But I have noticed that I do miss the full sensory experience of travelling to and turning up at a new location. I look forward to doing that again.
For now, I’m delighted to have a commission for another Zoom series of portraits coming up, this time of a local community group in Oxford.
Post COVID19 I hope that I will be able to return to in-person portrait shoots, while still being able to connect with people around the world via video chat, and improve on how I capture portraits in that way.
Social Distance Portraits
The COVID 19 pandemic is forcing many of us to find creative ways to do our jobs. Photographers are no exception. By mid-March, most of my commissioned work was being postponed and the three exhibitions I had on show in Oxford were, one by one, being closed to the public.
As a portrait photographer, I depend upon meeting others to do my work. To make it worse, I was in the middle of a project with the objective of getting people who disagreed with each other to hug. Suddenly, I found myself in a world where people couldn’t even hug their friends, never mind their enemies.
Luckily, I remembered one of the project ideas which was lurking in my “someday” spreadsheet. I had long thought that it would be interesting to experiment with photographing people far away via Skype. With people social distancing around the world, and using video calls as their main form of communication, I realised I had the perfect opportunity to experiment.
My portraits aim to celebrate the under-celebrated. I want to make images of people which tell their special and often untold stories. While we are all rightly praising the key workers who are getting us through this crisis, those who are isolating at home are also playing a valuable part. I wanted to document some of their stories at this extraordinary time.
I started by asking a good friend of mine, who is on immunosuppressants, and who had started to self-isolate early. She happily agreed to take part. After that, I put out a call on Twitter and Instagram and started to gather volunteers from around the world: There was a friend’s 81 year old mum who was living alone in Edinburgh, and didn’t really know how to use FaceTime until I talked her through it; people in Spain and Italy, who were ahead of us on the pandemic curve; even a woman in Australia who has been bed-bound for 20 years and is enjoying the fact that so much has moved on line during the global lockdown. The volunteers keep coming.
Despite the constraints, I am enjoying this new way of working. I’m used to meeting people who I don’t know, and working with them to put them at ease and create a portrait. However, I do not normally have to share so much of my process with the sitter. For these social distance portraits, I really do need to collaborate with the subject. I get them to show me around their spaces. Then, I make a quick assessment of the light, and ask them to place their device in a location that gives me a view that I’m happy with. At first, I made close up portraits, but then I decided that the images were more interesting with more of the environment included. I found that this way the portraits looked different from the mugshots that we are all so familiar with on our daily Zoom meetings.
Light is always something that I need to think about, but now I need to take into account bandwidth and webcam capabilities as I compose my shots.
People are often surprised when I get out my camera to photograph the screen rather than taking a screen shot. I find that the artefacts that I get as a result of making the image like this make it much more interesting. Even though these images are made using digital layer upon digital layer, I love the fact that the black border of the screen looks a little like the black border of an old negative.
It feels important to be documenting this peculiar period of history. I am also finding the process in itself is worthwhile. Just spending some time talking to people while they are isolated and having a bit of fun making a picture, is food for the soul.
January inspiration and hugs
I loved being witness to another hug recently.
Councillor Susanna Pressel and Councillor Yvonne Constance hugged for me in the public gallery of Oxfordshire Council Chambers.
Susanna is my local Labour councillor in Oxford. When I told her I was trying to get people who disagree to hug for a photograph, she said she thought it was a brilliant idea. Later the same day, she sent me an email telling me that a constituent had spontaneously asked her to hug them. “I think it’s almost the first time this has happened in my ward. It must be your influence!”
So, I asked her to propose someone to hug for the project and she confessed to me that “I tend to be intolerant of political opponents!” but she embraced the challenge and asked Conservative Councilllor Yvonne Constance if she would take part.
Susanna says she admires Yvonne because, although she is across the political divide, she avoids party politics and has got her colleagues to support radical proposals around traffic management in Oxford. I was really impressed with both women’s willingness to be somewhat out of their comfort zone and to hug for me. But they were both really good sports and said that they recognised that, although we may have different ways of getting there, we are all trying to make the world a better place.
It was a very dark and gloomy January day, brightened by Susanna’s rainbow jumper. Both Susanna and Yvonne were very generous with their time and their hugs, and I hope that as a result of this, their cross party cooperation will continue well into the future.
I am still on the look out for new huggers to extend this project. I have also been thinking of ways that I may turn some of them into collage pieces. Perhaps with pertinent newspaper articles, or painted backgrounds and words.
I have been thinking a lot about the practise of photography this week as well. I’m reading a book called So Present, So invisible by David Campany, which is full of interesting thoughts about this particular form of artistic expression. Because I didn’t study a degree in photography, I always feel like I am somewhat undereducated in the field and am constantly trying to address that. One idea which has already inspired me from the book is that of a “heteronym” or a fictional character through which to create art. I love the idea of being someone else who is less concerned about what people think, and creating art through them. Another idea is around the creation of photography books and using that idea as a way to interrogate the world and understand it better.
Last week I also went to the London Art Fair. I was drawn by an exhibition called Occupy the Void, Photo 50. It’s an exhibition which includes only the photography of women in their 50s and as I am about to be in that category very soon, I thought I should pay attention.
I came away with a bag full of inspiration, not only from Photo 50, but from other photographers around the fair. My favourites were Elizabeth Heyert’s Sleepers, Jessa Fairbrother’s Constellations and Coordinates, Ellie Davies’ images from the New Forest, Eeva Karhu’s landscapes and Susan Derges photograms. I highly recommend you take a look if you get a chance. They are all outstanding artists.
Conservative Councillor Yvonne Constance hugs Labour Councillor Susanna Pressel
#The Hug Project November Update
#TheHug project is gaining momentum. Over the past couple of weeks, I have managed to convince people with real disagreements to hug, as well as adding to my “taxonomy” of hugs. I’ve made quite a gallery of images already: https://www.franmonks.com/thehug-project
My gut feeling that interfaith groups might provide a good source of people with different outlooks, who still respect each other, was spot on. Last week, I was invited to visit Oxford Council of Faiths - oxcof.org.uk - an interfaith group who "believe that what unites us is much more important than what divides us". It was so wonderful to meet a group of people who completely "got" the idea of #TheHug project and they were more than willing to hug each other regardless of their religious backgrounds. I got a wonderful collection of hug images from them.
Having found it relatively easy to get interfaith hugs, it was even more striking to realise how reluctant people were to hug when confronted with other types of disagreement, in particular those who voted differently in the 2016 EU referendum. What is it that makes this issue so challenging for people? I suspect it has something to do with how individuals on either side of the debate feel like the other is trying to materially change their rights and the way they live their lives. Or perhaps that’s just the way I feel…
So, I was especially delighted to find two willing volunteers who voted differently in the referendum to take part in #TheHug. They are friends and neighbours who fundamentally disagree on this topic. Again, I really didn’t want to be stoking up their disagreement by quizzing my participants. In this case we were happy just to go with the fact that they voted differently three and a half years ago and leave it at that. However, I definitely feel that their ambivalence about their differences is evident in the portrait I made. I had asked them to do something that did not come easily but then, that is sort of the point of the project!
I had a personal breakthrough when I turned up at my son’s school for a Remembrance Day service the next day only to discover that my Brexit voter was giving an inspirational talk about the role of women in the military. It served as a good reminder that we are all multifaceted human beings. For some reason Brexit has encouraged us to categorize people, putting them into one box or the other. This is never helpful.
Later in the week, I also bagged a lovely hug between a homeopath and a doctor. This was great because although they share the same objective of helping people to be well, they believe in quite different approaches. I’m not sure if #TheHug made them feel differently about each other’s methods. Perhaps I should have asked? Maybe I will next time..
I have also been adding to my general “taxonomy” of hugs, which is a far easier task! Some friends who were grateful to each other, a married gay couple, some sisters and also a newly expecting couple all hugged for #TheHug project. You can see them all in my hug gallery here: https://www.franmonks.com/thehug-project
This week I am delighted to have the opportunity to photograph Palestinian and Israeli youths from the Debate for Peace https://debateforpeace.org/ hugging. An illustration that even when it’s difficult, there are people who are trying really hard to build bridges. I have to say, I’m really enjoying being a hug midwife.
A Pagan and a Quaker hug at Oxford Council of Faiths
#TheHug Project Week Two
I’ve been so encouraged by all the positive responses I’ve had to #TheHug Project this week and it’s been great to come across lots of folk keen to tackle the current state of polarisation:
The Depolarisation Project https://www.depolarizationproject.com/ aims to give people better skills for opening up and changing their minds. Their founder, Alison Goldsworthy, told me that she finds it “almost entirely impossible to find pictures of people being reasonable or civil to each other from different political backgrounds”. Always great to hear there may be a demand for my work!
@poppynoor wrote a great personal piece in the Guardian about how it is possible, if challenging, to have friends across the current political divides. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/oct/12/why-i-can-still-be-best-friends-with-someone-whose-politics-i-despise
Pro European activist Femi Oluwole and Pro Brexit Conservative activist Ellie Varley showed an appetite for better political discourse with their warm and tolerant conversation on Twitter. https://twitter.com/OFOCBrexit/status/1184491303729545216
I’m still working on getting volunteers - who disagree - to actually hug! But, this week, I’ve also come to understand some of the challenges I’m facing more deeply:
Robin Dunbar, a professor in evolutionary psychology at Oxford University, helped with a scientific explanation for why #TheHug can be difficult. He wrote an article about some of his research findings here http://www.ox.ac.uk/research/hugabrit-science-hugs-and-why-they-mostly-feel-so-good . To quote him: “The extent to which the experience of hugging gives us pleasure and helps bond relationships has a deep psychological component. Somewhere in the brain’s frontal lobes is a mechanism that can switch touch from being pleasurable to being unpleasant if the wrong person does it.”
I had a fascinating chat with someone from Thames Valley Restorative Justice, which facilitates communication between victims of crime and offenders. She explained the long and complex process they go through in order to prepare for a meeting and how it does, on rare occasion, lead to a surprising hug. She was appalled at how Donald Trump tried to orchestrate the encounter between the parents of Harry Dunn and the woman who is accused of killing their son in a car crash. No such meeting should happen without proper preparation. It’s not possible to go straight to the hug in such complex situations.
My aims for #TheHug this week:
1. Hug someone who I disagree with
While listening to a podcast “Only Artists” https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00094hg I was struck by Tracy Chevalier’s story of learning how to embroider so that she could fully understand the embroiderers in her new novel “A Single Thread”. It made me realise that if I’m going to ask people to hug those they disagree with, I need to do it myself. So, I set about trying to find a Brexit supporter among my friendship group in Oxford. Not easy! So far, I haven’t found anyone -but I think via friends of friends, I will manage to hug a Brexiter this week.
2. Connect with interfaith groups
People with strongly held religious views have lots of experience of working together despite their differences. I am planning to approach some existing interfaith groups this week and see if I can get some hugs that way.
3. A taxonomy of hugs
While trying to bring people together across divides, I’ve also been photographing people who are more than happy to hug. That’s been fun too, but it’s reminded me of the time needed to get an image that I’m happy with. This could be even more challenging if people are not actually comfortable hugging. At the end of the week when I tried to photograph a 2-year-old, I got a taster of what I will need to do to capture the moment. That situation certainly required me to act quickly and spontaneously and to leave my perfectionist self at the door.
On other photography related matters this week:
I had a few frustrating battles over not being properly credited for my work. Sadly, this is an on-going issue for many photographers. I found images published uncredited and some which were credited to Frank Monks or Fran K Monks. But undoubtedly the most alarming issue arose when someone writing about my exhibition at Keble College, Oxford, referred to me as the wife of a well known economist - without even mentioning my name! Why is this still happening in 2019?
The time is now for #TheHug Project
Hugs. I’ve been thinking about them a lot over the last week. The kernel of an idea about a hug photography project has been running around in my head for some time, but without a commissioner, or a client, sometimes the kick into action needs to come from somewhere else. In this case, it was a lucky coincidence. I completed a couple of big commissions recently, freeing up a little time for project development. At the same time, a dear friend generously offered to help me manage a social media campaign. I have also felt genuinely motivated to do something to combat the increasingly toxic political environment we find ourselves in. The time is now. #TheHug Project must happen.
#TheHug Project aims to bring together people who disagree on important and interesting issues to hug. It’s as simple and as difficult as that. Every time I start reading a Twitter chat, or the comments on a news website, I feel increasingly desperate about how polarised we are becoming. I wonder how we can move forward on the big challenges of the day, if we can’t get along.
The list of ‘hot potato’ topics is ever increasing: climate change and Brexit go without saying, but we’re also struggling with questions of immigration, gender, race, religion, sport, policing, medicine, science, agricultural methods, nutrition and so on. The question on my mind is - are we really as divided as we seem, or do we actually have, as the saying goes, “more in common”?
As a portrait artist, I’m driven by two key aims. One is to make beautiful images and the other is for my work to have a positive impact. With every job I take and every project I embark upon, I hope to fulfil these aims.
In the case of #TheHug Project, my starting point was realising that hugs make great pictures. The entangling of two human bodies into one single entity can happen in so many different ways. Visually, I find it a fascinating subject. Then I began to think that my camera could help bring people together - to hug - and build some important bridges. The hug might create a pause that would spark a new idea or a change of course. Just maybe.
Next, I started researching the impact of hugging on the human psyche and I became even more interested. Hugging can improve your health, your immune system and your mood. Researchers have also found that hugging can make you feel better about conflict. Could this be just what society needs? Hug therapy.
But so far, I have found it difficult to persuade people to take part in the project.
One of my first opportunities to photograph #TheHug came a few months ago at the Oxford Student Union. The Union reps thought #TheHug was a great idea and suggested that I photograph the people who were participating in their weekly debate. It so happened, that the debaters that week were Nigel Farage and Andrew Adonis; an ardent Brexiteer and equally ardent Remainer. It turns out, that if you ask two passionate political opponents, out of the blue, to hug for a camera, they are pretty reluctant to cooperate. Farage did manage to give Adonis a pat on the shoulder, but that was it. Everyone left, myself included, feeling very awkward indeed.
I have spoken to lots of people this week about the prospect of hugging for my project and there are some common negative responses:
The person who I disagree with doesn’t actually know how strongly I feel and so suggesting a hug would highlight something that I would rather brush under the carpet.
I really don’t want to hug the person who I disagree with.
I can see I am going to have to work a bit harder at my pitch this week.
However, it has been fun so far and I’m not too disheartened. I have managed to get a mother to hug her daughter for the camera. That one was easy and I think resulted in a wonderful picture. My husband hugged our son. Also easy. Up next, I have a doctor who has agreed to hug a homeopath. They were careful to point out that doctors and homeopaths are not “principally in opposition”. I think it will often be true that a disagreement is very nuanced and in fact this highlights an important difference between real life interactions and those on social media. Life isn’t black and white, and when we are forced to consider each other’s point of view up close, people will often admit that the difference is not as big as it may seem at first glance.
I also discovered the campaign Project Divided this week; Two millennials in the US who are trying to work out how to bring their own polarised nation together. They use a great expression, which I think is very relevant to #TheHug Project - “it’s harder to hate up close”. If only we can persuade a few more people to get close to those they disagree with. I’m working on it.
Andrew Adonis and Nigel Farage not doing #TheHug