This series was such a long time in the making, beginning
work on it in mid-October of this year. The theme of the series is
insecurities. What I wanted to do was speak to each participant about an aspect
of themselves that they were insecure about and figure out ways to depict it in
a positive way. This is where projection photography came into play. By projecting
the image of the participant’s insecurity on a large screen it was a way for
them to face this insecurity and work with me to find something positive in it.
The series is really personal and I don’t take that lightly. Working on each
photo with each person was a beautiful experience, it was scary sometimes,
going to that personal level with each individual. It is not easy to be faced
with a huge projected image of yourself. The colours projected on each individual was
chosen by themselves. I wanted the process of creating this series to be a
shared thing, a collaborative thing.
I named the series ‘Patchwork,’ because each photo depicts
the pieces or patches that make up the person, a patchwork quilt of fears,
anxieties but also good things. We are all made up of positive and negative
things. Believe it or not I found it really difficult to come up with a name
for this series. To express what I was trying to get across. The fact that we
are all made of a patchwork of positive and negative things, but we are loved
all the same. God knows I am a patchwork quilt of so many negative and positive
entities, but I am also worthy of good things, just as every single one of the
people photographed in this series are.
I want to say a huge thank you to those who took part in the
series, Katie, Michaela, Michael, David, Sorcha, Nicola and Shane for taking
the time to come to my house and be photographed. There were many people who
were involved in the process of the series. Many of whom who wished to be
photographed but couldn’t due to one reason or another. I appreciate the fact
that you believed in what I was doing enough to want to take part in first
place. I’ve never directed one in a photo series before and you can see that
the series is a bit rough around the edges, but I do believe everyone has to start
somewhere. I want to thank Michael for lending me the first projector and Simon
from The Urban Co-Op for lending me the second projector. If it wasn’t for you
two I wouldn’t have been able to create this series.
I chose to keep each insecurity private because for some
these insecurities are not something that should be publicized until the person
feels ready. I wanted to also leave it up to the viewer’s interpretation. I
would be happy to answer any questions anyone has or discuss the images with
people.Thank you to you too for taking the time to look at this
series and read my words. I haven’t been active on this blog much this year,
but I hope that this series shows that I am trying to create positivity with
this series. I’m really enjoying exploring different mediums of expression.
KATIE LENIHAN
MICHAELA DEANE
MICHAEL BOYLE
OLIVIA QUIRKE MCFARLANE
DAVID LEAHY
SORCHA HASSETT
NICOLA KIELY
SHANE MCNAMARA