Project Description

Graham Smillie

BA (Hons) Photography

University Centre St Helens, HE Arts 2020

Shrines

“One was unloved and unsightly the other brightly coloured, vibrant and full of love and remembrance. I wondered if this was a national or a local phenomenon and went looking to photograph as many as I could.”

  • Photography

My project has been to highlight the profusion of roadside shrines that we see around our towns and cities. I became fascinated in them through observing those I saw on my way to and from University. One was unloved and unsightly the other brightly coloured, vibrant and full of love and remembrance. I wondered if this was a national or a local phenomenon and went looking to photograph as many as I could. My travels took me around Scotland, North Wales and Merseyside. My journey opened a history of people and their burial practices going back centuries.

I have concentrated on documentary photography this year and have combined this with my love of film photography and processes to produce this collection, which I hope, highlights the fragile beauty and the loss involved. I have been influenced by the work of August Sander, Walker Evans, Graciela Iturbide and Alys Tomlinson.

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