Jo Haycock - Families Resetting

Members’ Images - Jo Haycock

I have always been drawn to people’s relationships, between each other, and with the spaces that they feel connected to and inspired within. Family life is simple yet complex, usual but unique to each family. What amazes me the most is the resilience of the family unit; how it can change shape and adapt to some monumental life changes.

Families Resetting is personal photographic project I started in January this year, though the project idea has been growing in me for some time now. I’m clear that its heartbeat needs to focus on the empowerment and adaptation that families can find once they’ve been thrown a curve ball. Looking at how they’ve had to reshape themselves after going through a life-changing event.

I spent a good deal of time thinking about how I could invite these types of families to get in touch with me. In many respects it is a tall order asking people to share their most personal situations with a documentary photographer. Someone who, from the off, is saying they want to share, exhibit and feature stories that have a huge emotional attachment and, quite likely, shaken their family’s foundations to provoke permanent change.

However, this project is very much about resilience, empowerment, and hope rather than plight. I want to know what their day-to-day looks like by spending time with them. What does life look like around the dinner table, the school-run, the in-between times?

Jo Haycock

The first of my families to feature in the project is Jenny and her two young children. They spent nearly six months in a women’s refuge after she made the brave decision to leave an abusive relationship. For her young years, she has the wisdom and insight of someone much older and has already made links within her own family’s history. As she compares her own plight to that of her great-grandmother who also suffered domestic abuse. This is incredible to hear as, although the project is mainly subjective, Jenny is offering me an opportunity to explore the social issues and support available (or not) in her great-grandmother’s generation.

Jo Haycock

My hope is that the project will show some clear parallels between life now and that of their family (or other families with similar challenges) fifty years ago. These links and stories will be told through quotes to accompany photographs of each family. I would like my Families Resetting project to result in an exhibition, to feature in larger collaborative social documentary projects, and in a book featuring the journeys of the families that have taken part.

Jo Haycock

I am beyond grateful and humbled by these amazing people, who’ve invited me into their lives to tell a part of their story as honestly and as sensitively as I can. If you’d like to talk to Jo about her Families Resetting project, please email jo@johaycockphotography.co.uk

Jo Haycock

Jo Haycock is a documentary photographer who explores the relationships and emotional attachments that people have between each other and within their environments. Living in South Wales, she is mother to a daughter called Jeanie. Family life consists of a camper van, a half-built house extension, and following the coastline as often as they can.

johaycockphotography.co.uk

Jo Haycock

‘The non-molestation order on my ex-partner expired today. Yes, I’m nervous about this, as it was an exhausting process for all involved. However, I’m in a different place now, mentally and physically. My children are safe. I feel safe. I can now breathe.’

Jo Haycock

‘My great grandmother left her abuser one night. She was told to go back home and make it work… after all she was a married woman with a husband and children. I’m so thankful things are changing for my generation. For me and my own children.’

Jo Haycock

‘I felt it so strongly, that she was watching over me when I eventually found the courage to leave him. That she was making sure I got out, because I could’

Jo Haycock

‘My proudest moment from this past year in our lives is that I’ve kept them safe. I’ve managed to build a protective wall around them, around me.’

Jo Haycock

Jo Haycock