Featured Article: Personal Work Journal

I recently had the pleasure of talking to Personal Work Journal, an on-line journal that features unique photography projects from around the world, and explores the passion projects of photographers, curators, artists and creatives.

We talked about my book Our Lockdown Garden, how the project began with photographing my father during lockdown and grew into documenting the residents of his sheltered accommodation, and about what it meant to make this work during such an extraordinary time.

We also talked about my return to photography later in life, and how coming back to photography has given me a different perspective on the work I make, particularly in relation to ageing, memory and the importance of giving older people a voice and a presence.

At the heart of our conversation was the question “What do we leave behind?”

Making Our Lockdown Garden became about preserving something of the people I had come to know, their photographs, their handwritten memories, their stories and their personalities. I  wanted to give the book back to the residents themselves, so that they had something tangible to share with their families who were unable to visit, something for the families to hold on to, a record of their parent, grandparent or friend.

The residents may no longer all be here, but their photographs, their words and their stories remain. Perhaps that is one of the most important things photography can do — to hold on to a moment, to a person, to a memory, and to leave something behind for those who come after us.

It was a valuable opportunity to reflect on the journey behind Our Lockdown Garden, and on what the project has come to mean to me, to the residents and, importantly, to their families.

Read the full interview with Personal Work Journal: Portrait photographer Ruth Toda Nation’s new photobook asks, What do we leave behind?