Independents Biennial

1/ Dad’s Project

My current portrait project looks at the small (but growing) number of families where fathers have chosen to be the main childcarer. While attitudes are shifting towards acceptance of dads taking a greater role in childcare, little real change has occurred. Despite improvements, this role still falls to mums in 89% of UK families. Only 2% of new fathers take more than two weeks off work. In UN studies, the biggest contributing factor to the gender pay gap is the impact of childcare on women’s careers.

With this series of portraits, I’m hoping to present a positive, or just everyday, view of dads as primary parents. As we move toward gender parity, both at home and in the workplace, society’s deeply entrenched views and norms around childcare and masculinity will have to be confronted.

I began working on this project in late 2019/ early 2020, and have had to put the project on hold for most of the last year due to covid restrictions. I’m hoping to restart things as soon as possible. If you would like to take part, or know someone who might, please get in touch with me. I would love to hear from you!

SEE HERE

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2/ Chorlton Portrait Project
Passers-by during the Covid-19 Lockdowns

On the 23rd March, the UK entered it’s first nationwide lockdown. Everything stopped overnight, people told to work from home and everyone restricted to only one hour a day outside. Things we had always taken for granted suddenly become something to consider and plan. Despite this, daily life had to continue – people ran out of milk, dogs needed walking…

Getting very bored very quickly, Mark Hobbs set up a wooden backdrop in his front yard and asked passers-by to stop for a moment and have their portrait taken (from five metres away…). He asked everyone to email their experiences of living under lockdown to add to the project. The project ran a second time during the November/ December lockdown.

SEE HERE