These images are a reshoot of my previous repeated portraits of myself, Rowan and Jack in my old bedroom originally inspired by Trish Morrissey and her work where she emulated mothers from other families on the beach.
Upon reviewing these images I am reminded of what I read in Prophecy Coles’ Sibling Relationships. The initial idea behind this triptic was the way in which siblings can lose their identity as they are constantly grouped together and compared with each other, they no longer become an individual and they are referred to as ‘Rowans sister’ or ‘Jacks brother’ which I experienced a lot when growing up. Coles refers to the idea of emulation and rejection, the idea that siblings copy each other, repeat behaviours and the obvious competitive aspect that follows. This then leads to the rejection, the idea of not wanting to be the same as each other, or perhaps feeling rejected when this emulation is unsuccessful. I feel that I have achieved this through the tense atmosphere of the images. Even though we are all alone in the portraits, the way in which they are repeated creates the presence of each other in the others photograph.
In these portraits, I have places us all in my old bedroom, putting the boys in my space felt like a way to include them in the context of where I grew up and show their presence in my life as a child. The walls have been stripped since I lived in the room, which represents the time that has passed, how much older we are and the events that have taken place since I lived in that room. It is also our family home where we all once lived together. I have emphasised this idea of time passing by using a smaller chair to show how we have all grown, and the chair also has paint peeling off it which mirrors the effect of the walls. I dressed us all in pyjamas to show a child-like aspect of our character, almost transporting us back to a time when we were little and we did wear matching pyjamas.
I also decided to have each of us take the picture ourselves with a cable release. I felt as if that made the boys even more present in the process and even more in control of the situation. It also represented them being me, acting as me and becoming the photographer them self, almost in a bid to try and increase their understanding of the situation by taking an active role.
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