Portrait of a Woman
Work in progress
At my mothers death I inherited photographs and letters which pointed to an interesting family history and I discovered that my grandfather, Leopoldo Savignac, had been a photographer in the Basque area of Spain.
I draw on personal memories and combine archival research with fictional recreations. At the works centre are the memories of life in Spain in the 1930s embedded in particular stories passed down to me by my mother. There is a potential detective story here as my mother is invisible in this history because she is illegitimate. There is a photograph in Maddi Elorza Insausti’s book which contains an image of a woman who bears a striking resemblance to my grandmother, who is also invisible in this history as a mistress of the photographer Savignac.
The is work is supported by Arts Council England and The University of Plymouth
Polymer Photogravures
I have called the project Portrait of A Woman after a photograph in my grandfather’s archive, of an unknown woman. It is a reference to my mother, but it is also at the same time a reference to other more insubstantial female figures from my past (my grandmother, aunt).
Interspersed throughout the chronicle of the journey is the way experiences impact on me; flashbacks from my childhood and young adulthood. The writing evokes a sense of place and time through short impressionistic sections. The journey is also an emotional and spiritual one. It is a reflection on trauma, loss and grief (Spain’s desire to forget, my mum’s losses and my own).
Isobel/Germaine with camera, Rae 2022
Germaine is the elusive daughter and half-aunt. Germaine works with her father Leopoldo in the studio for all her adult life. she remains unmarried. After his death she remains the head of the household, and the head of the Savignac photo studio until she disappears in 1965.
There are many invisible women in these records whose name changes make them harder to find.
With no image and very little information I resort to re-creating a portrait of a woman holding a camera so she can stand in for her.
My model Isobel is also an immigrant, by way of Portugal and Venezuela. She studied photography; she is a single mother. The link back to the past and to the lineage I am attempting to unpick is presented to me fully in the present in our relationship as photographer and model.
There are many gaps in the search. Dead-ends, loose ends, records which are incomplete. It is the way of things. Names are changed or misplaced; dates are not correct. Women having children without a father named on the birth certificate.
This is a project about what we might call post-memory – the relationship that the generation after bears to the personal, collective, and cultural traumas of those who came before [i]. My imaginative connection to the past becomes one of re-creation and re-invention.
[i] Hirsch, Marianne. 1997. Family Frames: Photography, Narrative, and Postmemory. Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Isobel/Germaine with urn, Rae 2022
Site of Savignac studio, Buenas Aires Kalea, Bilbao
Site of Savignav studio, Paseo de Independencia, Zaragoza
Site of Studio Calle de la Virgen de los Peligros, Madrid
Site of photo academy, Garibai Kalea, San Sebastián/Donostia
Site of Savignac studio, Costanilla de Los Angeles, Madrid
Site of Savignac studio, Costanilla de Los Angeles, Madrid 2022
Savignac Archive in Progress
Portrait of a Woman Savignac 1921
Portrait of a Woman Rae 2021
Portrait of a Woman with a mantilla Savignac 1940s
Portrait of Maria Teresa Serdio Alzola aged 18. Photographer unknown
A portrait of Maria Teresa Serdio Alzola de Buelles. approx 1920s. Photographer unknown.
Portrait of a Woman as Dressmaker
Portrait of a Mother - Projection