Trish Morrissey Appropriation

I chose to do this appropriation on Trish Morrissey's image because the subject matter between our two projects is very similar. I came across Morrissey while flipping through the Charlotte Cotton book and immediately knew I wanted to appropriate the image featured on the pages. Her project, 7 Years, dealt with documenting the uneasy familial bonds between her and her sister, while using photography as a bridge of communication between them. Coincidentally, the gap between me and my sister is also 7 years. Her images are mostly very contrived in costumey clothing to replicate fictional family snapshots, but it was the image of her and her sister against the low wall that stood out to me. While it the photo was staged, it still has an effect of honesty. There is tension in the body language of the standing subject, and apathy in the squatting subject. The subjects seemed to contrast between tomboy and feminine, young and older. Tense expressions on the squatting subject suggests discomfort, and the hand across the stomach suggests self consciousness. I almost chose a different location for this appropriation, but went with a wall since walls are dividers between two spaces, and Morrissey might have intentionally chose her spot for a similar reason. Taking this photo was again, really hard, since it is difficult for two people to collaborate if they can't agree on anything. Doing this project up to this point has made me realize how easy it is to blame the other person in the relationship for the problems, but the series has highlighted all of my shortcomings and more. I don't mind photographing the bad things, but my sister doesn't like this series very much and I don't know if I'll want to continue it for much longer since I don't want to give her another reason to resent me. It's a hard balance.