Ethnography is the product of Anthropology and Sociology. It is the material representation of a culture and can take on many different forms, such as the written word, film, or photography. Ethnographies of the Everyday is a photographic project that involves looking into people’s daily life and activities. It is about providing an insight into and a sense of understanding for how people live their lives and why, what makes them who they are, and it highlights how different people repeat similar patterns of behaviour in their day-to-day activities.
This project has been produced with an anthropological methodology in mind by observing and photographing the specificities of everyday life. This includes examining the way people behave around and relate to each other, the kinds of things they do, the type of clothes they wear, the objects they surround themselves with, and the setting in which they live. Photographs can record not only physical details of people but also, for that moment of time, a person’s exact facial expressions and body language; this can reveal to the viewer how a person might feel, their mannerisms or personality, and how they interact socially and feel about others. This photographic investigation focuses on the common patterns and rituals that emerge in the way people go about their everyday life.
The artist has taken care to photograph things as they actually happen, to ensure that some kind of truth can be revealed. These photographs show things as they are; the people in the photographs are actually sleeping, eating and interacting with one another – they are not acting out a scene and have not been influenced by the photographer. This provides the work with an anthropological integrity.
