Saskia Mallinson

The work focuses on family, memory and representation. The theme I have chosen to pursue is the contrast between capturing a special moment at an event or just in life, in a documentary style and the more posed and constructed scenario and more idealised portraits.

The work raises questions of does the artifice of the studio disguise truth? Is it an untruth in the sense? and because studio photography cleeves to an ideal, whose ideal is it? There is a strong cultural bias that it shows, which takes us back to the question of whether children are always angelic as they are portrayed to be in studio photography? No. So, can photography really capture real emotions that are linked to those special memories mothers incessantly collect? And if not, why do mothers incessantly portray their families and in this way when you can capture authentic memories with real emotion and significance?