Faces of an Island: St Helena Island, South Carolina, USA
Faces of an Island engages with the essence of St. Helena Island on the coast of South Carolina, USA through mixed documentary photography. The island holds significant strategic and historical importance in the American Civil War and the emancipation of enslaved people, and after being introduced to the island through the book Face of an Island which features photographs by Leigh Richmond Miner from the late 1870s, this work explores the ethical implications of representation in documentary photography, particularly as an outsider, through a series of collaborations with the local community.
The project documents the experiences and memories of the island's older residents, captures the daily lives of a group of youths, and collaborates with younger children to create their own photographs of the island.
By linking the island's past, present, and future through historical context, interviews, and photographic techniques, the project provides a comprehensive and realistic portrayal of St. Helena Island. It also examines the relationship between the photographer's identity and the unfamiliar landscape, exploring how these elements interact within a historical context.
This selection of images from the project embodies its ethos: the nature of the environment as both isolation and protection and the tension between intimacy and distance. The work engages with both people and place in a location where history informs and confronts the present.
