University of West London

Graduate Student, Faculty of the Arts

MPhil/PhD Student

Faculty of Arts

Thesis Title: The Magic Mirror: The transaction of the photographic portrait and its role in contemporary narratives of ‘femininity’ and lifecourse.

About

Sukey turned to photography at age 41 whilst navigating her entry into ‘midlife’, which was accompanied by the birth of her son and the death at home of her mother. The last year of her mother’s life is chronicled in her book, The Savage and Beautiful Country. Her work has sprung out of a desire to reveal the hidden psychic transitions that accompany female middle- and older age and the attendant change in relation of the individual to their mortality and the gaze of society.

‘Much of my work is involved in rites of passage of women and the photography of transition. I am concerned with beauty, the “feminine”, the gaze of modern society and the journey of age. There are enormous consequences to social invisibility: loss of cultural power, denial of care and intimacy. My photography is concerned with how to represent the complexity, diversity and quietnesses of my subjects. How to bring out other ideas of “worthy of view”, question the privileges and norms of beauty as synonymous with youthful sexuality—I don’t want to deny youth its beauty—I want to extend the categories, find other aesthetics that are not youth relative, that can contain the ageing subject without denying the unavoidable conflicts inherent in growing old.’

Sukey's photography moves from the intimacy of her personal work centered around rites of passage within the family unit to familiar faces in showbiz, music and current affairs via personal projects on women midlife and counter-culture partygoers. She has won various awards including a bronze medal at the 2009 London Photographic Awards annual portraiture competition and she has been a finalist twice in the prestigious Photographic Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in 2006 and 2007 with pictures from her ongoing project, Women of an Uncertain Age. Two pictures have recently been acquired for the permanent collection.

She was awarded a MPhil/PhD studentship in September 2009 for an exploration of contemporary photographic portraiture. Her working title is: The Magic Mirror: The transaction of the photographic portrait and its role in contemporary narratives of ‘femininity’ and lifecourse.

She lives in London with her husband musician, Will Parnell and their two children, Lola and Xac.

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