RUSSELL-
JEFFREY
DEPARTMENT
PHOTOGRAPHY
ORIGIN
TOWCESTER, ENGLAND, UK
Through documenting domestic rituals and constructing rules, I examine how teachings, privacy, and cultural practices shape resilience in the face of violence—particularly for young women—while also enabling its continuation. These experiences are contextualised and personified through images, text, and the insertion of dialogue into spaces and objects, transforming the personal into a collective interrogation of survival, complicity, and the hidden structures of harm.
My work avoids reductive or exploitative representation, presenting interconnected narratives that engage varying levels of emotional intelligence and openness. It creates space for empathy toward both the self and others, offering a nuanced exploration of resilience, ritual, and violence. Rather than reducing harm to linear or singular interpretations, the work presents a more complex lens on systems that seek to flatten lived realities.
This is a space of accountability, where narratives shift and play while remaining grounded in truth. It addresses the failures of both personal and forensic systems, creating space to build homes away from violent experiences while acknowledging the routines and structures that shape them. The work is mine, my sisters’, my mother’s, and many women’s—a collective history, an inventory of violent experiences and perseverance. It is also made for my brother, who grew up in the same home as us.
2024, Framed archival ink jet print, 18” x 14”
2024, Framed archival ink jet print, 40” x 28”
Documentation by Daniel Ribar
2024, Archival ink jet print, 17” x 11”