Guest Lecture from Celine Marchbank, documentary and commercial photographer on the 9th of March.
Celine Marchbank has a degree in graphic design, is based in London and she spends her time between personal documentary projects, exhibiting work regularly, and undertaking commercial and editorial work.
Project ‘Tulip’ is about her mum being diagnosed with lung cancer and a brain tumour. It features a lot of flowers, not only because her mum loved flowers but because they are very symbolic and represent the life and death throughout the book. Other common themes are her ginger cat and food as she was a chef. I appreciate the skilfulness to combine vibrant and strong images of flowers alongside those extremely delicate and soft pictures like the one of her hair on that is falling out upon her pillow. She explains how she is fascinated by and focuses on the small details of everyday life. Celine wanted the project to be a sentimental remembrance and way of moarning of her mothers death, not a (as she put it) ‘this person is dying’ book, with obvious and cruel evidence to their condition. Therefor there is very few images with her mother present, but her presence and personality is captured within those without her. The book is beautifully curated and designed, flows naturally not meddled or forced.
‘Notes From A (Very) Small Island’ project stemmed from her fascination of the fact the Isle of May was a tiny uninhabited island. She decided she must go after hearing that seabird researchers would be temporarily based there over the summer. I adore the attention to the small details, which have such bigger back stories to them. The camera also explores all angles, from looking directly down at the repaired shoes to looking up at the seabirds. Even the less photographically “perfect” images have made the cut as they bring more meaning and narrative to the work rather than technical precision. I would love to see it in full as a publication to compare to the ‘Tulip’ book layout.
The Hereford Photography Festival commissioned ‘The Wye’ project after Celine won the Open Here Award. It follows Hereford’s waterway, travelling the length of it over a few months. It didn't feature ‘a hub of activity’ as she had imagined, therefore it became a much deeper and reflective piece of work.
