Photographer 'making sense of grief' with archive

A photographer has embarked on the mammoth task of recording her father's life by archiving his workshop and collection of "treasures".

John Taylor, who died suddenly at the age of 66, was his family's handyman and fixer with a passion for restoring cars and scooters and a tool for every occasion.

These, alongside his collection of esoteric and mundane items, were stored in the family home for years, but when it was due to be sold his daughter Louise decided to photograph everything before it was disposed of.

She hopes the result, "Archiving Dad", will resonate with anyone who has suffered grief, and with the aid of a Kickstarter fund aims to turn it into a limited number of bespoke books.

Louise Taylor, from Tow Law, County Durham, said of her father: "Officially he was an accountant/business consultant but unofficially he was the fellow who fixed everything.

"He had a lifelong passion for Lambretta scooters, raced them as a young man in the 60s, restored them later in life.

"He was also a collector, a cataloguer and a note-taker, looking back I realise he was quietly recording his own life.

"Most homes have pictures of families, holidays etc, but in ours there were clip frames of every car he had ever owned, every one of the scooters he restored, every pet we had.

"Growing up, I didn't think it was weird, I just thought these reflected his eye, his hand.

"I'm a photographer and curate exhibitions, and I now know he was recording - curating - his own life."

His unexpected death in 2013 left the family not just reeling from a sense of loss but with a lifetime of his treasures in storage.

There were tools for every job and occasion, and drawers packed with "useful things" alongside bizarre items, like the huge water cooler bottle filled with miniature shampoos from every hotel he ever visited, thousands of cigar wrappers, and every credit card ever issued to him, Taylor said.

She added: "It was not always clear what dad planned to do with his collections.

"There was talk of building a glass bottle wall, making a credit card collage and a wine cork pin board but none of these transpired.

"When mum made the difficult decision to sell the house, we were faced with the enormous task of clearing his workshop, the garage and the loft.

"Before everything was scrapped, recycled, sold or thrown away I began photographing it.

"At first it was simply a way of holding on but over time it became a way of remembering him, making sense of grief, and recognising how ordinary objects can tell extraordinary stories."

"I've got some small exhibitions of it coming up, including one at the Sarah Nelson Gallery in November, and hope to expand on that.

"It's lovely when when people engage with my work," she said.

A Kickstarter crowdfunding appeal is aimed at creating 200 hand-bound books of the work, which Taylor hopes will resonate beyond her immediate family and reach out to anyone who has suffered grief.

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