Jaret Belliveau

Jaret graduated from NSCAD University in April 2006 with a BFA majoring in photography. He travelled the world and took photographs which eventually got into exhibitions with Musée de l’Elysee. His 'The dirt squad' project highlights the struggles of self within a conflict of peer group and society. It emphasises the external pressures and influences of the mass media, international conflict and climate change.

However it is his series entitled 'Dominion Street' which particularly tells the emotional stories within his family. He starts the series with documenting his mum and general family life, but as the collection progresses you see the changes and heartbreak the family go through as they experience cancer. He documents the stages of his mothers cancer from the start where things carry on as normal to the aching photos of his dying mum in her hospital bed surrounded by wires and unknown doctors.

I chose develop my work with this photographer as he manages to still portray the relationship and personality of his mother even in the hardest days of her cancer. In my project and work I wanted to show the changes a certain experience or life event can cause and how the family themselves deal with it. In Belliveaus work his scenario was an upsetting one however I wanted to portray that even in the happiest of experiences for example a new baby coming into the family, each member deals with it differently; a different type of happiest for each person. I also wanted to document the stages of growth and the changes that occur in that particular person, for example the baby, or for Jaret his mother.

  

Image Analysis…

This image was taken as his mother started to lose her hair. The way the background is blurred and her hand is in focus could subjectively suggest that she, herself is slowly becoming more distant as each strand of hair is taken away from her,showing that a little piece of her also disappears. The image is taken from her hospital bed and she can faintly see the machinery and wires in the blur behind her. You can also make out that she is looking towards the camera but also at the clump of hair she is holding in her left hand, as she almost proudly presents it to the camera. 

As the scenario is a real life situation, the image isn't set up however the colours, particularly from what she is wearing create a calm surrounding even though the environment is so far from calm.

Jaret started taking these images before he found out that she had cancer and so this image makes the series of photos into a story and this one in particular allows the viewer to feel empathic towards not only his mum but also the photographer as he takes photos of how his mums cancer develops.

Although it could be thought to be a hard picture to look at, the way her face is blurred and she has a slight smile portrays that it wasn't always a traumatic and scary time and that she found peace with what was happening to her body, as she allows her son to take photos of her in such a way.

My responses...

     

Jaret took photos of an event that happened in his family that effected not only his mother but the rest of the family also.  I wanted to recreate this in my own family. My eldest sister had her first baby, and the first grandchild recently ;as we are a close family it had a massive impact on the rest of us. These photos are taken 8 hours after he was born. I took photos of the new father and the new granddad holding their son and grandson. I wanted to portray the admiration they had for him, as they looked down on a completely new face.  

Jaret Belliveaus work is coming from a placed of emotional and tragic circumstances which presents the idea that even in the hardest of times family still continues not only as a support system but also as a way of distraction from the bitterness of the situation. To illustrate this is my own work I chose to use an overwhelmingly happy and exciting occasion to symbolise the mix of emotions that can be captured through documentary and candid photography. I not only wanted to get pictures of the new baby but also the effect the new addition had on the new parents and also the rest of the extended family.
Although a lot of these photos show the way the rest of family had to adapt to life with a baby, they also show the innocence of the new child that has to adapt to life outside of his mother.