Review of ‘New Works’ at Impressions Gallery, The Independent
‘The information’ 17-23 July 2004, by Peter Chapman.
For the past three years, the Impressions Gallery in York has been supporting the development of the photographer Trish Morrissey. The worthwhile nature of their investment is apparent from a new body of work in which, among other things, Morrissey explores how the photo album has been used to promote the ideal of a happy family life.
Taking her own childhood and adolescence during the 1970s and 1980s as a starting point, Morrissey meticulously recreates portraits of the period. She appears in the pictures alongside her elder sister, always dressed in ‘period costume’ and playing characters from their family. Look closely and you may be able to spot odd tensions.
Elsewhere, Morrissey lovingly pastiches the home movie with Eleven and Three Quarters
the story of a small boy chasing and elusive rabbit around a suburban garden. As with her photographic stills, Morrissey is adept at suggesting the swirl fo the imagination, the way the slightest domestic incident can be shot through by many different feelings.