Ellen Nolan

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  • Previous Personality 001
    Previous Personality
    Untitled (8th June 2007)

    ‘Previous Personality’ explores my relationship to my mother as she recedes into dementia. I started photographing my mother and myself when she stopped recognising me as her daughter.The documentation lasted for three years, exploring a journey of reversal and erosion. The title ‘Previous Personality’ is derived from a section in the form I had to fill out for my mother, upon admission to her old peoples home.
    There is a strangeness of being inherent in this condition, an altered state where the family member shifts into another being, whilst retaining the physical appearance of their former selves.
    Photographically, I tried to reflect this state by creating images that are simultaneously uncomfortable and aesthetically pleasing. This mirrored the interior and exterior conflict of the illness.
    My clothes were used as a visual reminder that whilst I had the freedom of personal expression, members of staff now chose my mother’s wardrobe, brought from a generic clothing company that visited the home on a monthly basis. I never got used to seeing my mother in these clothes, and together with her growing sense of alienation within her ‘home’, they came to visually represent her loss of self.
    What remains when almost everything is stripped away? A silent negotiation took place through emotional and physical intimacy. Few words were exchanged, except repeated uttering’s of love and the remembering who I am and who she was.
    Photography as a medium seemed to serve the situation well. It was a record to capture my dying mother, a means to examine our state, and perhaps to create an alternative family album.
    Photography also seemed to fit the muteness of illness and ageing.
    By joining the photographic frame, I could challenge my position of photographer by exploring my role as artist, daughter and eventually mother. Within this was a documentation of my mother and her illness.

    View Previous Personality Video >

  • Previous Personality 002
    Previous Personality
    Untitled (20th November 2007)
  • Previous Personality 001
    Previous Personality
    Untitled (20th December 2007)
  • Previous Personality 004
    Previous Personality
    Untitled (5th January 2008)
  • Previous Personality 006
    Previous Personality
    Untitled (10th March 2008)
  • Previous Personality 007
    Previous Personality
    Untitled (10th March 2008)
  • Previous Personality 008
    Previous Personality
    Untitled (9th April 2008)
  • Previous Personality 009
    Previous Personality
    Untitled (22nd May 2008)
  • Previous Personality 010
    Previous Personality
    Untitled (16th June 2008)
  • Previous Personality 011
    Previous Personality
    Untitled (18th June 2008)
  • Previous Personality 012
    Previous Personality
    Untitled (4th July 2008)
  • Previous Personality 013
    Previous Personality
    Untitled (28th October 2008)
  • Previous Personality 014
    Previous Personality
    Untitled (10th March 2009)
  • Previous Personality 015
    Previous Personality
    Untitled (21st May 2009)
  • Previous Personality 016
    Previous Personality
    Untitled (9th September 2009)

© Ellen Nolan