Kelly O’Brian
Born in Derby in 1989, Kelly O’Brian’s work focusses on personal and historical narrative, distortion and fragmentation of memory. Her most recent project titled “Are You There” was really captivating, I found the story behind the images very gripping and personal due to how much I related to the history. Kelly was very transparent about her journey as a practicing photographer, this really made me feel more connected with her, even through a screen. Like I stated, her project about her fathers death called “Are You There” is a project that I think resonated with all of us in the talk, the way Kelly spoke about her father and the images produced from this time are truly stunning.
Kelly talked about the documentation of the English landscape, and how it had been “Catnip” to photographer, and how overtime it had turned into un finished projects and poorly constructed narratives. Commenting on stereotype, and how she wanted to deconstruct these with the relationship with photography, resolves into the declassification of them. I think this this is a really unique way of looking at this work; identifying that the stereotype has participated in the completing a narrative. For example, she asked the class what we think when hearing council estate, single mother or under educated, and how we have built these sublime images in out head that contain a visual description in our social order. Like other guest talks we have had over the years, Kelly’s work and mine are not exactly the same, but I feel it is import to pay respect too all genres of documentation, as I am still learning. I want to branch out into more personal topics, and really question out morals and mundane tricks as humans, and I think to do this, I first have to understand the meaning and language behind the photos. Kelly has really helps me open my mind to this side of image making and narrative telling.
Near the end of her talk, Kelly O’brain talked about how sometimes she felt out of place in her work, and how connecting with the theory side of photography has really helped her in the past. Experiencing self doubt is something we all through, but to Kelly I think it has really shapes the image maker she is today, so maybe we should embrace what pushes us down, as it may help us become better people in the long run.