For Eden
Marjolaine Ryley’s work has always had an archival nature. Although she takes many strong single images, it is the cumulative impact that counts. Her work is written and photographed from a personal perspective with a strong autobiographical thread. Her images are quiet, understated and yet extremely evocative. Val Williams sums up Ryley’s new work well, stating that the images “open a window into a remembered childhood reality, mediated through an adult consciousness” [p28]. Growing up in the New Age is a reflection on Ryley’s childhood living in communal squats and attending the progressive Kirkdale School in South East London.
Not for the first time, this book features a collaboration with her mother Brigitte whose text offers a first hand account of life in alternative communities in London and France. At the end of the book we also read a contribution from her father Peter. Another new element in this book is the inclusion of Ryley’s own creative writing, placed alongside her images. The texts are adroit and pertinent, aiding our navigation of this complex, multi-layered work.
“Dressed in your Kirkdale best, free to choose at will, a child masquerading as an adult. Those days like an ocean of childhood, divided not by hours or routine but by your urge to play, chase, run, invent, paint, cook, read or idle.” (p78)
The book does not only include photography by Ryley but also family snapshots and images by Dave Walking. He photographed life in the squats and at the school, and his work provides an invaluable record of this moment in time. It is unusual to see images of Ryley but we do see one in Walking’s work, as he has unwittingly taken a shot of the artist as a young, blond-haired toddler with a baby bottle in her hand. If Walking’s work is seen as the documentary photographic commentary on the community, then Marjolaine and her mother are its subjects, very much in and of the work. By including his work, Ryley is playing a part in ensuring that these communities, with their utopian aspirations, are not forgotten.
It seems an interesting time to reflect on this moment of social history in the UK. Kirkdale school, with its ethos of encouraging play and freedom over discipline and SATS, could not be further from our current government-led educational reform. Ryley’s work neither applauds nor judges her schooling or her mother’s choices. She does from the outset suggest eventual disillusionment with the scene, just as her mother reflects on her loneliness whilst living within a commune. Part of the work includes a reunion with other members of the school which Ryley documents. It would seem there are fond memories yet no astounding shared consciousness for the children involved. Ryley wrestles with the impact her childhood experience has had on her stating: “how could that spirited, anarchist child full of self-assurance, joy, energy … have turned into a conformist member of society” [p 20].
But despite all these wider issues that the work taps into, for me the central core of the work is its role as a family archive. During her development of this project Marjolaine had her first child, a baby daughter Eden. She made most of the work with her daughter with her, as she photographed around the North East where she is now based. The works rekindle her memories of years gone by and many are taken from a child’s perspective, from the ground looking up. It strikes me that this book is ultimately about the relationship between Brigitte and Marjolaine and what between them they pass onto the next generation. We read in both Marjolaine’s and Brigitte’s text of the deep bond between mother and daughter and willingness to make sacrifices for each other. It is clear both as mothers have done all they can to provide the best start for their daughters although they have lived such different lives.
Even Marjolaine’s daughter’s name Eden seems to take on a new significance of utopian hope for her to live in the garden of paradise before innocence is lost. And if this project is a gift from Marjolaine to Eden, as the dedication at the front of the book suggests, then what a wonderful and inspiring gift it is.
