An ode to the idyllic and the unsettling:
The countryside; a mere romantic memory of nostalgia, a place where time avoids.
MOULTON, SUFFOLK
Cocoon is a body of work based around my experiences of growing up in a small, rural village in Suffolk as a young girl. Much like a cocoon, Suffolk emulates this same feeling; a silky case of protection spun by many insects for safety and shielding. I wanted to explore my conflicting feelings of discomfort and lust in what appears to be an ideal community to grow up in.
It wasn’t until I moved away and gained distance, I was confronted with a lack of belonging and identity. I was actively avoiding this village and rejecting what Suffolk represents, experiencing feelings of shame and embarrassment. I wanted to lean in to understand and to uncover my unease in the place I call home.
Throughout my childhood I had always experienced stifling feelings of passive order and control through what I recognise now as the male gaze. Traditional archetypes of gender roles and expectations are kept alive through “the glue of the community” in places such as the church, the elder generation who dominate this landscape but also, politically.
I began by spending time in the places where I used to feel the least at ease and observing through taking still life images and writing. I
would often find myself in churches and village halls as these are the most accessible third spaces for residents. Its there where I became aware of the decay of what once was and the efforts to preserve the past. I also wanted to emulate how women are conveyed through self portraiture inspired by archival photos, as well as portraits and stills of the hidden figures who make this community what it is today.
The expectations of how a woman should act and present herself are intertwined into the roots of rural living, it was these unspoken but passively enforced rules which left me feeling watched and controlled as a young woman trying to finding her feet. There is a specific mould that a woman must meet and inhabit through the expectations which have been there for centuries through rituals and repetition.
Ironically, what is viewed as the landscape of freedom and tranquility is claustrophobic and restrictive. Endless energy is placed into preserving what once was; it demands to be left in the past. I felt swaddled and confined as I had been shielded from the real world; all of its faults, implications and horrors. I wanted to confront these issues that once made me really angry and unsettled in their naivety as I pull the wool away from my eyes.
Photographs © Louisa Webb
Text © Louisa Webb
Design © Louisa Webb
Self-Published June 2024
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