KayLynn Deveney

"The Day-to-Day life of Albert Hastings"

All above images are copyright of KayLynn Deveney, taken from her series and book "The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings. Book published 01/09/2007

 http://www.kaylynndeveney.com/bertgrid.htm 

KayLynn Deveney is an American born Photographer who moved to Wales, UK and shortly afterwards began documenting her neighbour, Albert Hastings.  These images formed the series published in the book "The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings" in 2007. I was recommended this series after showing a fellow student my work from this term, as it instantly reminded her of Deveney's documentation of Mr Hastings. I feel this work is greatly similar to mine in the way in which it juxtaposes still life with portraiture and also with the way it challenges concerns about aging, time and place. The feelings I get when I view this work are ones of nostalgia but also of loneliness. I believe this is something that goes hand in hand with the elderly; as you get older your life becomes concerned with dealing with loss in all forms and in turn, memories of the people who are no longer here, of the person you used to be and of the places you have spent your life. I feel memories are more cherished at an elderly age, because there is less time ahead of you than there is behind you, life is more about not taking it for granted, and heavily based on looking back on how you have spent it. I feel Deveney's photographs highlight this, in particular with the detailed, still life images which for me, show that you spend more time focusing on the little things in life and not taking them for granted. Taking this into account when looking at my own images, I feel I too have subconsciously produced work that feels quite lonely and isolated. Although this was not deliberate, it is something I feel is justified and adds quite a lot to the over all feel of the work because as stated before, aging and life experience a lot of the time means you have had to deal with loss, perhaps a husband, a wife, parents etc. Both of my Grandparent's lost their husbands over ten years ago and I feel that the photographs should reflect this as it has made them the person they are today.