The Mourners is a series of portraits documenting the ritual of wearing black as a signifier of perpetual mourning. In remembrance of those they have lost, all that sit for a portrait in the series wear black every day for the rest of their lives.

The controlled environment of a traveling studio replaces existing backdrops of nursing home corridors, living rooms and church halls. Stripped back to the point where only the faintest trace
of the sitter's sorroundings remain, the portrait brings the viewer to the periphery of an ultimately private space.

Deflecting the unflinching eye of the camera with an averted gaze, the women are absorbed by the void that is black, living mementoes - vessels for mourning, fixed by a photograph, which in turn alludes to a double death.

Catalogue essay by Helen Ennis

The Mourners was exhibited at CCP
17th June - 8th August, 2011