Seven Years

2001-2004

Seven Years aims to deconstruct the trope of family photography by meticulously mimicking it. In the series, the title of which refers to the age gap between myself and my elder sister, I function as director, author and actor, staging myself and my sibling in tightly controlled, fictional mis en scene based on the conventions of family snapshots.

In order to construct images that appear to be authentic family photographs from the 1970s and 1980s, I use period clothing and props, both my own and others, and the setting of my family’s house in Dublin. We assume different characters and roles in each image, utilizing body language to reveal the subtext of psychological tensions inherent in all family relations. The resulting photographs isolate telling moments in which the unconscious leaks out from behind the façade of the face and into the minute gestures of the body.