‘John’s Notebooks’ is written in marker pen across one of the boxes I pull down from the attic. A photographer and writer, my father left behind an archive and boxes full of notebooks, letters, drawings, paintings and other objects that have been stored away since his death 15 years ago. It was on returning to live in my family home and rediscovering the archive and objects belonging to my father that the work started to be made. ‘John’s Notebooks’ explores the memories and emotions connected to the loss of my father that are stored in the landscape of my family home and surrounding area, in my family members who live here, and in the objects he left behind. Engaging my father’s pictures alongside my own, ‘John’s Notebooks’ becomes a conversation between father and son around legacy, and as much about presence, as absence.
‘Murmurations’ (working title) is a study of the shape, form and scale of starling murmurations, but also a personal reflection on the current global crisis, the heightened connection to nature during this period, and the act of coming together and converging as a group.
Billy Barraclough
Billy Barraclough (b. 1994) is a photographic artist based in London. Directed by his curiosity in the relationship between people and their environment, his work to date has explored ideas around identity, emotion and personal history.
A common thread throughout his practice is an interest in the metaphorical potential of photographs. His project, ‘John’s Notebooks’ (2020-2021), pulls on the symbolism present with the landscape of the home to touch on the emotions and memories connected to the childhood loss of his father. Whereas his most recent work ‘Murmurations’ (2020-21), employs the starling murmuration as a symbol to reflect on the current global crisis and the act of coming together and converging as a group.
Barraclough is a recent graduate of the MA Photography programme at Bristol UWE and is due to exhibit his master’s project, ‘John’s Notebooks’, at the 2021 Bristol Photo Festival.
