In 1987, Margaret Thatcher famously told Woman's Own: "There is no such thing [as society]! There are individual men and women and there are families." Francesca Odell would have disagreed, as illustrated by some of the pictures that she took during Thatcher's time in office - a selection of which are currently on display under the title Coping With And Enjoying Life at the Turner House in Penarth as part of the biennial Ffoto Cymru festival.
Most photographer begin by documenting their own immediate environment, and in Odell's case this was Sandy Lane on the Gower - an attempt to construct an alternative society in which communal bonds were prized. The photographs show free-range kids and joyous nighttime gatherings around the firepit - images that evidently still stir the glowing embers of memory for Odell's daughters Eleanor, Naomi and Lorelei, whose recollections in the captions add context and colour. The hippyish living arrangements may have been starkly at odds with the nakedly neoliberal individualism of the age, but the community's emphasis on resilience and self-reliance were not.
In 1983, Odell secured a sought-after place on the Doc Phot course in Newport - proof that personal passion for a subject was a more important entry requirement than either an impressive portfolio or technical aptitude - and subsequently benefitted from the wisdom of David Hurn, Ron McCormick, Martin Parr and more. Her contribution to the annual Newport Survey in 1985 was Keeping The Body Beautiful. This project partly offered an insight into the world of bodybuilding, and as such was a commentary on body image standards (and, arguably, on a Thatcherite pursuit of individual aspirations and self-improvement). But the more remarkable pictures take the gallery visitor inside a Turkish baths on Newport's Stow Hill, where - in comically British fashion - towel-clad women sat sweating in steam rooms sip cups of tea by way of refreshment. The atmosphere is social and convivial - and echo of the firepit gatherings of the Sandy Lane commune.
Odell's gender gave her access that would have been denied to male photographers, but she must have been acutely aware that she was trying to make her way in a man's world - not least because she was the only woman invited to contribute to Ffotogallery's Valleys Project. Her own personal circumstances - by 1982, she was divorced, with primary caregiving responsibilities taken on by her ex-husband - and an implicit desire to challenge conventional gender roles gave birth to her most affecting work. Single-Parent Dads started out close to home but branched out to explore the lives of other men.
Odell's pictures of the Buttons in Gilfach Goch and the Horley-Davies on the Gurnos Estate in Merthyr are testament to her ability to effectively become a family member rather than a detached observer or a fly on the wall. We see the four high-spirited Horley-Davies children in a bedroom, the eldest leaping off a chest of drawers onto a bed while his younger sister catches sight of her reflection in a mirror; their parents may be merely coping with life, but the kids are enjoying it. And the picture of Mark Button cradling his newborn niece, dummy in his mouth, is tender and touching - the highlight of the exhibition, in that it encapsulates Odell's faith in humanism and care, her belief in the numinous value of interpersonal connection.
To conclude by quoting another politician, Jo Cox, Odell set out to show that "we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us". Coping With And Enjoying Life is a powerful affirmation of that sentiment - one that is especially urgent in the contemporary moment.
(This review was originally published in the Offline newsletter.)
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