The Family McTurk (2015 – present) is a collection of lost faces acquired from
charity shops, markets and car boot sales. I’ve always collected old photographs, most dating from the late 19th and early 20th century, and lamented that these individuals who’s picture once rated keeping as a remembrance were now abandoned. The Family McTurk unites these, not seeking to replace their unknown history, but to celebrate their existence at this point in time and give them a place to belong.
The name refers to a realisation that three books purchased from a second hand bookshop had come from the collection of one woman – Mary McTurk. I have a long held fascination with old objects and the lives they lead before meeting us and after departing our company.
Exhibition History:
- Dispensary Open Hypha Studios, Wrexham, 2024
- Peter Cushing’s Pound Shop Pestilence Vivid Projects, Birmingham 2021
- Fleshing, Filching & Fetishes Stryx, Birmingham, 2019
- When I Was A Child I Wanted To Be A Cryptid The Wig, Birmingham, 2015
Images by Marcin Sz
Vicky Roden 