Leeds International Festival of Ideas 2023: Photographer hosts exhibition after tragic death of her brother

24-year-old Jack took his own life in November 2017 following a gambling disorder. He was teaching in Vietnam at the time of his death, leaving professional photographer Jo devastated.

She couldn’t imagine being creative in the ways she had previously, but almost six years later, grief has become her creative outlet. She’s now hosting an exhibition on bereaved people in Leeds.

The 35-year-old, of Chapel Allerton, told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “You have to split your brain into two parts if you're photographing people. It's making that person feel comfortable, and then also having the creative side of your brain switched on, thinking of where you’re going to put them and how you’re going to pose them.

“I just couldn't imagine myself being creative like that again and being able to be fun and interesting – because it was so far away from how I felt.

“I remember after he died, someone said to me that if you're at a party and he's in the room, he's the sort of person that you'd like to get to know. He was so fun and he was one of my best friends. It’s tragic.”

After losing Jack, conversations with other bereaved people helped Jo realise that creativity can be a coping mechanism, and grief can be a catalyst for creativity. Jo spoke to and photographed a wedding photographer who would capture nature when she was feeling low, and another woman would make headdresses.

Jo said: “I found those stories really amazing and inspiring. It gave me hope that you can feel creative again. It will always be painful, but it won't have to be quite as heavy as it feels at the beginning.”

She then met writer Faye Dawson, who had also lost someone close to her, in 2018 and approached her to interview the women she had photographed. The project grew from there and the photographer-writer duo would reach out to more bereaved people to profile for their online exhibition, Projecting Grief.

This month, Jo is putting on a free exhibition of people she has photographed over the past six years as part of the project, and a number of creative workshops in Victoria Gate from August 18 – 27 with Leeds International Festival of Ideas.

“It's not always about the person that died, it's also about the people that have survived that,” Jo added.

"The project didn't start as my creative outlet. I just wanted to document these stories and then it grew as it did. Later on, I realised that it's come full circle and that it had become my creative outlet.”

Projecting Grief features people from all walks of life, and tells their stories and the creative hobbies and passions that are in memory of the people they have lost. With 37 profiles and new writer Laura McDonagh on board, Jo said she she feels “duty-bound” to the community it has created.

She added: “People are getting something out of it. It’s important to keep pushing and keep going, and hopefully one day we will get some funding to cover our costs and to be able to get all over the country.”