Comprising of thirteen photographs (including images printed as Lambda C-type prints) and two films Trish Morrissey: a certain slant of light’ responds to extensive research into archive material gathered about the last two female residents of Hestercombe House, a stately home and gardens in Somerset, England.
This body of work is a playful and rigorous enquiry into the lives of Elizabeth Maria Tyndale Warre (1790 -1872) and The Right Honourable Mrs Constance Portman (1854 -1951), using archive materials as points of departure’ to develop interpretations of these two formidable women. Living under the shroud of a patriarchal society, both women ran the estate independent of men which was unusual for the time and as such adds more texture to the work and their characterisation. Trish Morrissey: a certain slant of light’ eloquently puts flesh on the bones of dry history.
Crossing the disciplines of performance and photography, Morrissey drew on extensive historical material such as photographs, drawings, newspaper clippings, letters and testimonies. Combining fact, fiction and fantasy, and playing all the roles herself, the films and photographs are based on her interpretation of the lives of these extraordinary women. Morrissey touches on a broad range of themes that span past and present, including class, gender and role-play, body and gesture, the language of photography, and the uncertain, ambiguous relationship between public and private.
Trish Morrissey: A Certain Slant of Light
23 June – 28 July 2018
Francesca Maffeo Gallery
284 Leigh Road
Leigh-on-Sea
Essex
SS9 1BW
About Trish Morrissey:
Born in Dublin, Trish Morrissey now lives in Somerset, her practice is situated within the archive as a primary source material. Morrissey has exhibited her photographs and films internationally and her work is housed in the permanent collection of The Gosta Serlachius Fine Art Foundation, Finland; The Museum of Fine Art, Houston; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The National Media Museum, Bradford and the Wilson Centre for Photography, London.