The above photo of my mum & I, taken when I was about 3 years old, is one I particularly love because it’s so informal, so relaxed, & we are close together!

My mum & I shared a love of nature, photography, bold colours, & fabric. We always had some crafty project going on! It wasn’t until after my mum died that I realized where the seed of my creativity had come from – growing up around my creative mum! She was always knitting us cardigans, sewing our clothes (there was a stage we had matching outfits!), & making crafty things to decorate our rooms. When I was about 10 years old she started earning her own money dressmaking at home, & I observed her making wedding / bridesmaid dresses, & frequently tailoring clothes to properly ‘fit’ body shapes of all kinds. She worked at the kitchen table with pattern, fabric, scissors, pins, & sewing machine, transforming a length of fabric into a garment, so I always assumed that’s what everybody did – made things themselves from scratch!

I have a large exhibition booked for November 2020 titled ‘Maggie’s Garden’, & it is my personal creative ‘act of devotion’ to the things my mum & I shared a love of, & serves to help me keep the promise I made to prioritize creativity in my life after she died. The venue is the Whanganui Community Art Centre, & it is significant to the exhibition because it’s where my mum, Margaret Walford, actively exhibited her own photography, & spent many years involved with the annual organizing of the Whanganui Camera Club exhibition.

My starting point for this exhibition is photographs I have taken of my mum’s garden since she died. It is a wonderful space she created from a big patch of lawn over many years, filling it with plants that would put on a colourful & cheerful show whatever the season, while also collecting & hiding bits & pieces amongst the plants to surprise & delight visitors! She always moaned about the weeds, but it was most definitely a labour of love on her part.

I have already started some work for the exhibition, & it’s made me ponder the traditional view of what a photograph is. My mum would take a photo, print it, put it in an album, or frame it for the wall, but my curiosity & imagination simply won’t let me stop there – & it’s made me wonder about what’s possible to do with a photograph – which is essentially a digital file, printed onto paper. Wow….. that realization certainly opens up a lot of possibilities for me to play with!

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Vicky xxx