Margaret Mitchell: On connection and sincerity
In this episode, we talk with Margaret Mitchell about connection and sincerity. She describes some of the projects she has undertaken which look at the experiences of homelessness and of end of life care. She explains how she gained her understanding of ethics and representation through photographing her own family members. Finally, Margaret offers a description of what she believes that true collaboration or collaborative practice entails.
What does photography ethics mean to Margaret?
“It’s very much about the very substance of what it is to be human, you know, how do we approach others in life and treat them? And that’s across all that we do, not just around photography, every interaction. But I really see photography as just being – being a photographer – as just a continuation of that approach, you know, about treating other people with a level of decency. … I’m really, really clear with people when I start a project, exactly who I am and what I’m doing. And I think, ethically, you have to do that.” (35:43)
Links:
Margaret Mitchell is a Scottish photographer whose work ranges from exploring communities and children’s worlds through to projects on the individual and society. Bridging both psychological and social issues, her work explores the intricacies and complexities of people’s lives with a particular emphasis on place and belonging. She has exhibited widely including at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh (2017 & 2022) and at the National Portrait Gallery in London as part of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize (2014 & 2022). Her latest body of work, An Ordinary Eden, was shown at Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow in 2023. Her work has been acquired for the permanent collections of the National Galleries of Scotland, the Martin Parr Foundation and the University of Stirling and has featured in the Guardian and the New Statesman, among others.
You can see her work at https://margaretmitchell.co.uk