Rebecca RobertsonFemale, 23
rebecca_jane_@msn.com
www.rebeccarobertsonphotography.co.uk
My work tends to focus on the different cultural activities within society. The relationships we hold within different social circles and also the relationships we hold with one another in our culture and how these shape our day to day lives. I find the compositions and variations between social activities fascinating, and try to use the camera to study the difference in status and the social rules and regulations that we live by in our society.
Over the past two years my work has looked at the different institutions of gambling, the changes in the Greenham common landscape and the modern world of Morris dancing and fox hunting. My recent project has been a study of people with chronic illness. After writing a dissertation on the photographic depiction of illness and death in relation to cultural taboos, I was able to research into why artists wanted to photograph subjects often hidden in society. I found that for many artists there was a shared desire to examine illness and the effects it can have on life in an attempt to try and understand and educate not only themselves but the rest of society about topics that are sometimes very hard to talk about or look at. Photography is the perfect medium for shifting perceptions of life; if we are able to see how others have coped during testing times it may help us prepare a little better should something similar ever come our way. Seeing how illness has affected the lives of other people can make us more grateful for things we might take for granted in our everyday lives. This work tries to encourage a more positive way of looking at illness, to show that sometimes the most positive and enlightening attitudes can be found in areas where you might least expect it.
