Narrative
‘fangirls’
‘fangirls’ is a documentary project chronicling the lives and experiences of self-confessed ‘fangirls’. The project serves as an examination of culture, an exploration of music as a tool for personal identity and connection and the relationships forged through these communities. Entirely handmade, the book is made up of the words and images of self-confessed “fangirls”, a term negatively associated with teen girls and ideas of mental illness. Using their words, she explores the relationship between art and the artist, the life art takes through the consumer.
The work uses portraiture as a form of documentation, evidencing the existence of the fangirl and the different kinds of people that encompasses, from the trivialised teenage girl to adulthood. Using images from her family archive, the life of the fangirl is evidenced from adolescence to parenthood, and the last legacies of childhood obsessions. The book was then constructed by hand, paying homage to the fanzines that have become before.
‘fangirls’ is dedicated to anyone who has ever loved anything more than themselves, and to the artist’s parents.
‘how does your garden grow’
In ‘how does your garden grow’, artist collective “More Work Needed” have collaborated with Hulme Community Garden Centre and L4 Photography Students to create a handmade photobook exploring the people behind Manchester’s environmental efforts, and how nature influences our everyday. Comprising of images and text from facilitated cyanotype and pinhole workshops, using resources from their surroundings and the natural exposure of the sun . The book is constructed from recycled and handmade paper, and riso-printed to minimise energy use and waste.
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