Isle of Wight photographer Zoe Barker is chuffed to bits with the national coverage her latest collection of work has received.
Zoe’s ‘House of Two Sisters’ project was awarded winner in the Documentary Category of the British Life Photography Awards earlier this month. The project featured photographs from the former home of Ryde sisters, Jean and Joy Taylor, which was preserved without any modern-day interference.
Documenting a lifetime
The stunning collection of photographs, documenting the home of the well-known Taylor family, was exhibited at Quay Arts in 2014.
The sisters shared the home with their mother and Aunt Edie, as well as brothers, James and John.
We love the detail included with the images. The description for the left hand shot in the picture above reads,
The rug was made by Aunt Edie’s long-term boyfriend ‘Uncle Bert.’ They stepped out together every Wednesday afternoon until he passed away. They never married. The blue dog belonged to Aunt Edie.
Click on images to see larger versions
New owners pay homage
Sadly, Jean passed away in 2008, and Joy sold the house in 2013 after moving into a care home.
It was at this time that the new house owners approached Zoe to document the interior before renovation – little had changed for many years and the house was full of wonderfully dated features.
Zoe said,
“The new owners are lovely – a middle-aged couple with a teenage daughter. They are all massive appreciators of old things so it couldn’t be in better hands.
“They’ve kept a lot of the sisters’ furniture and objects, selected from the things that the sisters’ family didn’t want, many of which are currently in storage, but they plan to display them around the house once the decorating is completed.
“They invited me to come and document the house precisely because they appreciated it all so much – they really wanted a record of how it was. I presented them with an album of photographs at the end of the project.”
Local memories
A link to the Daily Mail article was posted on The Isle of Wight Heritage Facebook Group and attracted a great deal of discussion from Islanders who remembered the sisters.
Karen Pullinger said,
“I remember Jean and Joy coming into the hairdressers where I used to work, they were lovely ladies x”
Jan Hackshaw said,
“Joy, the remaining sister, is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. A lovely lady.”
Sarah Morris added,
“These ladies were truly lovely, I hadn’t seen either of them since the post office closed. I remember going into their home, and having a conversation around how wonderful it was, they were very happy as far as I could tell. Their home was such a calm place, with the lack of technology. I know I crave that, and get it by holidaying in our caravan on the other side of the Island!”
The project is also featured in today’s edition of The Telegraph.
Long-time fans
We first came across Zoe’s work at ‘Pedlars at the Quay’ in 2012 and were immediately fans of her work.
As well as winning the award for ‘House of Two Sisters’ Zoe also received a ‘Highly Commended’ for her ‘Lazy Days beach hut’ project which is equally brilliant.
Zoe can often be found at Isle of Wight art fairs, but you can also see her work on Facebook by Liking her On An Island Photography Page.
Image: © With kind permission of Zoe Barker
