For 3.9 million children across the UK, severe poverty is a fact of life. During a brief assignment sponsored by the charity Save the Children I became aware of the need to further understand the intergenerational cycle of poverty in the developed world.
In the autumn of 2010 I began working with the Jones family - two parents and seven children- in order to mutually create a body of work, which speaks about the meaning - and the experience - of genuine deprivation within the context of a wealthy country.
The Jones family lives in a three-bedroom council house in the industrial city of Wolverhampton, UK. This is the first house that the family has lived in for three generations; the mother and father were brought up in caravans, as were their parents. The house is precious to the family and holds many memories for them, to the point that despite its extremely limited size they refuse to move into larger council accommodation.
I chose to focus on the Jones’s house to unravel the meanings embedded in the material qualities of the environment; the decoration and objects they cherish, as well as the everyday rituals, practices and interactions in which each family member finds personal expression and a sense of autonomy. The photographs seek to transcend the surface impression of bare floorboards and peeling wallpaper in order to communicate this family’s unique culture and each individual character, their genuine love and compassion towards each other and playful imagination.
Liz graduated from Brighton University with a first class BA Honors in Editorial Photography and went onto to complete a two-year scholarship with Fabrica research and communications department in Italy. She is currently completing an MSc in Social Anthropology at University College London and undertaking research in Paris. Alongside developing her photographic project â??Under Godsâ??, which explores multi faith urban communities.
Liz has won numerous awards for her photography including the Canon AFJ Figaro magazine award 2010, and the â??Taylor Wessingâ?? National Portrait award 2009. Her work was highly commended in the 2010 and 2007 Ian Parry Award and a finalist for the Eugene Smith Grant 2010. She has exhibited in solo and group shows in the UK, France, Budapest and New York in such galleries as the Getty image gallery and the Budapest University of Art and Design. Her photographs have been published in international magazines and academic journals from the Sunday Times and Foto8 to the Visual Cultures journal and Le Monde. Liz regularly presents her work in Universities, Galleries, and Schools etc and has received commissions from Save the Children, The National Portrait gallery and The Royal Society of Arts.
