Garvan Gallagher | Wearing Purple

A day in the life.

Each visit I made to the people in these photographs was recorded in my notebook, in the form of a diary. My role as photographer was to “take” their photograph. To balance this, I gave each person a disposable film camera and asked them to capture a day in the life of themselves, no matter how boring a shot seemed. I wanted another side of the story, theirs. The collected snapshots presented a sense of normality. Normality is important, as stereotypes take over when we think of older people. One woman expressed her discomfort when I approached her first about taking part in the project.

She didn’t want to be represented as a lonely old woman who lives on her own, because she wasn’t. The people who took part in this project live full and enriched lives surrounded by people who care about them. It is this essence that I hoped their photos would get across, which is very difficult to do with a single photographic portrait that I could ever take. Elements of the beautiful Donegal landscape, holiness, farming, pastimes, shopping, fleeting moments, daily walks, routines and loved ones were recorded. All normal here.

“26/Feb/2008 – This is probably the final shot with JP, he made a joke, perched on the table, before he pressed the cable release and was grinning as he took it. He winked at me with that smile on his face, after the flash had fired and said “That’s the one!”. After I pulled the equipment down, I had tea with him – some queen cakes and a small kitkat.”

James Patrick Boyle, 1914

Kathleen Visit

“13/April/2008 – It was a glorious Sunday morning as I drove into Glencolmcille. I turned into her driveway and saw her leaning out a window talking to a kid – who turned out to be her grandson. She didn’t seem to have changed at all. She was expecting me and met me at the front door. There was beautiful light pouring into her house. It’s probably 15 years or so since I last seen her. A few minutes after I arrived, she produced a photo and gave it to me. It was a photograph of me and her at the back of the church on my confirmation day in Kilcar, which I remember being taken. She suggested the kitchen and because it was small I decided to shoot there. I needed another light for the back room as I was shooting at f16. She was wearing a white blouse, black skirt and white shoes and suggested changing but I convinced her she was fine. She put on a pink cardigan, which lifted her from the white of the kitchen. The height of the camera in relation to her height was about how it was when I first met Mrs McGinley, aged 4, when I was in baby infants. After the shoot, we had some tea by the table and ate homemade scones. We talked about cholesterol, teachers, schools and how things have changed.”