THE HOUSE OF LIFE

Grant

The House of Life

Mary Branson and Emma Brown 2018.

During the winter months, I’d stand at the windows and stare out at the views, my thoughts far away in the landscape, only returning because of the sound of life from within the building.

Volunteers preparing the house for open season. Laughter coming up from the kitchen where gardeners and the DIY team gather by the Aga to keep warm, drinking tea and sharing freshly baked cakes. Managers ushering interested parties about the rooms, their voices echoing around the empty spaces.

For me the key to understanding this house is in the people who bring it to life.

Over the past four months I have watched the continual transformation of the building through the enthusiasm and dedication of a core group of people who love Leith Hill Place. Now open to the public, the volunteers and managers spend their days welcoming visitors, telling the story of the building and allowing people to wander freely - to experience the space as a home. Due to their approach, they have created a unique experience for visitors, turning it into a ‘House of Life’.

This installation is a snapshot of some of the team. I wanted to record their mark on the history of the building as its future develops over the next three years.

Collaborating with award winning photographer Emma Brown, we spent two weeks in early May 2018 capturing the people of Leith Hill Place and their favourite spaces in the house. We used informal recorded interviews and Silver Collodion photography -  a 19th century photographic technique.

Reflecting on the fragile nature of the present building and the relative rapid changes it is undergoing, I decided to create an exhibition that through its materials expresses a flux.

I have combined the tintype photographs with the voices produced and played through an old 78 rpm gramophone.

Both these technologies have a vulnerability and impermanence. When exhibited over the next month, they may start to capture a sense of loss from the original documentation – the photographs fading in the daylight, and the voices disappearing into crackle and static.