Polly Braden: Holding The Baby
30 September - 31 October 2021
Mann Island Atrium
A portrait of the strength and resilience of single parent families in the face of austerity.
In 2019 Philip Alston, a United Nations poverty expert, came to the UK to look at the effects of austerity. His conclusion was that austerity has had the largest impact on single parent families.
Having become a single parent herself, Polly Braden started to look at some of the prejudices and policies that impact the parent who has stayed. With help from charities, law firms, community hubs, arts and women’s organisations, Polly got in touch with single parents asking them to be part of this project.
Over the last two years Polly has worked with Fran, Jahanara, Charmaine, Aaron, Barbeline, Caroline, Gemma, Carike and their children to represent each of their stories. These photographs have been made in collaboration: sometimes even taken by the parents themselves, after Polly has set up the camera. They capture their optimism, creativity, ambition and resilience, transcending the often difficult situations they face.
Journalist Sally Williams has interviewed the parents and excerpts from these conversations are displayed alongside the photographs. Writer Claire-Louise Bennett has created a word collage with a larger group of single parents, sharing their reflections on ‘the favourite thing in their home.’ Statistician Rob Minto has analysed a range of data to reveal key facts about what it means to be a single parent in the UK today.
Holding the Baby is an exhibition of new work by artist Polly Braden with text by Claire-Louise Bennett and Sally Williams. Curated by Sinéad McCarthy, the exhibition was first shown at the Museum of the Home, London in 2021, and will tour to Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol in 2022
Polly Braden is a documentary photographer whose work features ongoing conversations between the people she photographs and the environment in which they find themselves. Highlighting the small, often unconscious gestures of her subjects, Polly particularly enjoys long-term, in-depth collaborations. Sally Williams is a London-based feature writer. Her work has taken her across the world and into the heart of people’s lives. Claire-Louise Bennett is a writer. She is the author of Pond and her fiction and essays have appeared in a number of publications.
Supported by Arts Council England.
Images: Holding the Baby Jana with Izaan and Yaana, by Polly Braden
Mann Island Atrium
A portrait of the strength and resilience of single parent families in the face of austerity.
In 2019 Philip Alston, a United Nations poverty expert, came to the UK to look at the effects of austerity. His conclusion was that austerity has had the largest impact on single parent families.
Having become a single parent herself, Polly Braden started to look at some of the prejudices and policies that impact the parent who has stayed. With help from charities, law firms, community hubs, arts and women’s organisations, Polly got in touch with single parents asking them to be part of this project.
Over the last two years Polly has worked with Fran, Jahanara, Charmaine, Aaron, Barbeline, Caroline, Gemma, Carike and their children to represent each of their stories. These photographs have been made in collaboration: sometimes even taken by the parents themselves, after Polly has set up the camera. They capture their optimism, creativity, ambition and resilience, transcending the often difficult situations they face.
Journalist Sally Williams has interviewed the parents and excerpts from these conversations are displayed alongside the photographs. Writer Claire-Louise Bennett has created a word collage with a larger group of single parents, sharing their reflections on ‘the favourite thing in their home.’ Statistician Rob Minto has analysed a range of data to reveal key facts about what it means to be a single parent in the UK today.
Holding the Baby is an exhibition of new work by artist Polly Braden with text by Claire-Louise Bennett and Sally Williams. Curated by Sinéad McCarthy, the exhibition was first shown at the Museum of the Home, London in 2021, and will tour to Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol in 2022
Polly Braden is a documentary photographer whose work features ongoing conversations between the people she photographs and the environment in which they find themselves. Highlighting the small, often unconscious gestures of her subjects, Polly particularly enjoys long-term, in-depth collaborations. Sally Williams is a London-based feature writer. Her work has taken her across the world and into the heart of people’s lives. Claire-Louise Bennett is a writer. She is the author of Pond and her fiction and essays have appeared in a number of publications.
Supported by Arts Council England.
Images: Holding the Baby Jana with Izaan and Yaana, by Polly Braden