Trish Morrissey used self portraiture to create several series of photographs each series having a defined purpose, all quite different from each other.

Front

In her series Front, Trish Morrissey spent time creating a series of 12 images in which she approached families and groups of friends sitting on beaches in the UK and Melbourne, Australia, asking if she could replace one of the members of the group, usually the mother.

She focussed on groups who had established a temporary encampment or territory, and her aim was to cross those boundaries to become one of the group.  Whoever she replaced would take the photograph (the camera had already been set up), and Morrissey would wear the clothes of that person to complete the image.

I think I would be reluctant to agree to such a request not necessarily for myself, but because I would want to retain the anonimity of the other members of the group.  I feel that there is no separation between the photographer and her subject, particularly as the person she replaced actually took the photograph.  The  relationship developed into a very intimate arrangement with strangers.  I wonder how many groups refused her request before she was able to complete the series.

Failed Realist

Between the ages of four to six children are often more verbally than visually articulate.  This means that what they wish to express through mark making is often beyond their physical skill. The psychologist Georges-Henri Luquet (1927/2001) called this The Failed Realist stage – the child’s desire to represent his or her world is hampered by motor, cognitive and graphic obstacles that will be overcome with time, but for the moment, their interpretation is flawed.

http://www.trishmorrissey.com/works_pages/work-tfr/statement.html [accessed 01/06/2020]

In this series Morrissey uses self-portraiture by allowing her daughter (then aged between 4 and 5 years – the age of the Failed Realist stage) to paint her face with whatever image she wished.  It started as a “rainy day” game with Morrissey painting her daughter’s face, but as her daughter became more skilled the roles reversed and she painted her mother’s face.

This series of photographs is not just a mother’s record of her daughter’s work and progress, but also a record of how a child at that age can interpret images from books, films, activities or experiences.

Seven Years

In this series Morrissey takes the opposite stance from her series Front.  Rather than infiltrating other families and groups of strangers, she creates a series of scenarios with her sister, seven years being the age gap between them.  They dress in clothes from the 70s and 80s, posing in such a way as to show the true sibling relationships and tensions that can exist in a family.  Although the photographs are all staged I think they represent family life as it is.