Visiting the Taylor Wessing photo portrait prize exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery was very interesting. With the diverse selection of photographs, each one of them told a story just by looking at the picture for a minute. In the first picture below, there is a piece by Phillippa James. She photographed her 14-year-old daughter and her friends on there phones together. This demonstrates how social media has shaped the younger generation and how their enjoyment of technology has become a necessity due to its rapid advancement. . In the caption, they touch on having discussions on sexual or verbal harassment, sexism, and victim blaming. These young girls are unfortunately the main target for those things because of social media.
‘Mums Engagement Dress’ :
The next photograph I found interesting was ‘Mums Engagement Dress’. The British photographer Cara Price lost her mother to breast cancer when she was 15. She kept quite a few belongings from her mother, including her mother’s engagement dress. By wearing the dress and photographing it, Cara felt a sense of comfort and felt more connected to her mother, which I found truly touching. She explains how it was ‘revisiting old memories’ and ‘seeking closure’; it was inspiring to see her share her story in such a creative way. It has a clear message, and I completely understand why it was nominated in the first place.
Overall, I found quite a lot of the pieces inspiring, but these were my top 2. I understood both photographs easily, whereas with some, I didn’t fully understand and had to refer to the caption. There were so many categories within the competition, which made it unique and extremely creative. I have realised that one picture can tell so many different stories.