Angela Kelly

" Catharsis: Post-conflict images of Belfast"

All above images are copyright of Angela Kelly, taken from her series and essay "Catharsis, post-conflict images of Belfast". N.D

http://www.reframingphotography.com/content/angela-kelly

The above images were taken by Angela Kelly as part of a series documenting her return to her hometown of Belfast. I first came across these images during my critical practice module in which we read her essay "Catharsis, Post-conflict Images of Belfast". Throughout this essay, Kelly discusses these images and lays bare her first return to her hometown. She originally grew up in Belfast during the "Troubles" but emigrated when she became old enough. This series of images juxtaposes Found images taken by her Father while she was growing up, with images she has taken on her return to Belfast. She does this in order to convey feelings of Nostalgia, and challenge ideas about time, place, memory and family life. At first, the images seem slightly odd placed together, with her father's images documenting family life and her newer images based around landscape and her memories of a particular place. However, I believe that there is a space provided here for the viewer to interpret and read into the image. I also feel this juxtaposition creates a sense of mystery and curiosity. It personally makes me want to know more about this place- placing it with family photographs tells us that there is a relationship here between place, time and memory and it creates a sense of nostalgia. This is something I would like to create with my own work and I find the use of found imagery fascinating in terms of how old photographs give a glimpse of the past and an era that you may not have been a part of. It is informative and also quite unique. I think this is the first photographer I have come across that uses found imagery and new photographs that are completely different in such an influencing and interesting way. I would like to experiment with this idea and juxtaposition within my own work.

The ambiguity of the images taken by Kelly are something I also find particularly interesting with this work. Although she has placed GPS co-ordinates with the work I feel these places could be anywhere and they remind me of places I have visited before, in my own home town. This re-ignites memories for me and a sense of nostalgia for my own home town. Although I am not photographing landscapes, I can take this idea and use it to influence my own work, particularly when photographing objects within my grandparents home because there are certain objects that most homes have, and this will help the viewer to sympathize with my subject and understand or relate to the work I am producing.

Kelly's work has a very different feel to the work produced by myself. However, I feel it is extremely helpful in terms of the way she has placed the work and in particular how it focuses on identity. Here, it is the photographer's identity that is being explored, through childhood memories, family album photographs and ideas about aging, time and place. I too am exploring the idea of aging, time, place and identity and this work has made me think much more about how my family shapes the person I am. So far I have been focusing on my grandparents' identity but in fact, we are who we are due to life experience and the people we are subjected to. A major part of this is family life, so while exploring my Grandparents' lives I am in turn shifting the focus on my self and my life, how I have grown up. I can only photograph things that I feel reflect my Nan and the person she is, but if somebody else photographed her I am sure they would photograph different things because they know her differently. It is an exploration of the fluidity of identity and relationships, and in particular my own interpretation of my Nan. The work I am producing is becoming more about my own memories of her as much as it is about how she holds onto her own memories and time that has passed.