Boothroyd’s images for her series “will you still love me” are largely constructed to represent the feelings / emotions that thinks the child might have been feeling when they uttered the words to their fathers.
She doesn’t explore the father’s feelings on hearing those words or in fact ask the children what they meant by it, so it feels like the images are really a reflection of her own feelings when hearing what the fathers have told her their children said. I am interested into why she would pick this subject, was she left by a father or perhaps she has a partner who has left his children to be with her?
In essence, I feel that these images are storytelling from the photographers view, which without a lot of explanation don’t really tell the story. She titles the images with the names of the child and the father, but doesn’t tell us what they said. It is for the viewer to bring their own experiences to ascertain what has been said. There seems to be a focus on negative quotes. I do like that she has constructed images.
Works Cited:
Monarchi, Christiane. “Will You Still Love Me?” Photomonitor, Sept. 2012, photomonitor.co.uk/interview/interview-with-sharon-boothroyd/. Accessed 9 May 2021.
Smithson, Aline. “Sharon Boothroyd: If You Get Married Again, Will You Still Love Me?” LENSCRATCH, 17 July 2012, lenscratch.com/2012/07/sharon-boothroyd/. Accessed 9 May 2021.
