Eileen Perrier (b. 1974) first took up the camera in the 1990s, and has steadily documented London, its people, places and diasporic communities ever since. Born and raised in the city, Perrier often found herself caught between her upbringing and her dual Ghanaian and Dominican heritage. The sense of ambiguity this brings is central to her work, examining how identity is shaped by both geographical and cultural context. She uses portraiture to forge connections between people, acknowledging the profound value of being seen. Her images employ the tropes of 19th聽century European and contemporary African studio portraiture to contemplate how class and belonging are represented. The artist is also a senior lecturer in photography, influencing the next generation of creatives.聽A Thousand Small Stories, the first retrospective of the artist, is now on display at Autograph, London. The show brings together three decades of photographs, from gentle explorations of kinship and memory to a lively community beauty salon in Brixton.聽Aestheticaspoke to Perrier about her career, how a trip to Ghana influenced her creative trajectory and the ways the photographic landscape has changed over the past three decades.聽
A: Where did your involvement with photography begin?
EP: One of my first encounters with the camera, and the moment I became really excited about it, was when I started my A-Levels. I鈥檇 originally taken physics, chemistry and biology, but realised they weren鈥檛 working for me, so I took up photography and instantly loved it. I had that 鈥渁ha鈥 moment when working in the dark room, and great teacher called Trevor Parslow-Williams, so that was where I got the bug. From there, I went on to do my degree at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, specialising in documentary photography. The lecturers there were incredible, people like Anna Fox, Martin Parr, David Bates, David Moore and Peter Kennard. They were practicing as well as teaching, which was amazing. Around the same time, I came across a book by British-Jamaican artist and photographer Armet Francis and I loved his portraits. I met him by chance one day, we stayed in touch and he became a mentor to me. Anna Fox was also really supportive of my work while I was at UCA, so once I graduated, she encouraged me to get in touch with Autograph. They commissioned me to develop the Red Gold and Green (1997) series, which I started working on after I visited Ghana in 1995 and was a real turning point in my career.聽
A: You mentioned that your visit to Ghana was a pivotal moment. How did that experience shape your perspective on photography?聽
贰笔:听I knew whilst studying documentary photography that I wanted to focus on a subject that was personal and important to me. My Mum first moved to the UK from Ghana when she married her first husband at 19, and hadn鈥檛 been back since. That relationship ended, and he decided to go back but she stayed here, despite lots of people saying she should聽travel back to Ghana to see her聽family. She never did, and as I got older, I became more interested聽in聽what 鈥済oing back聽home鈥 meant. My dad is from the West Indies, and I鈥檇 have people ask me: have you been to Ghana? Have you ever gone back to聽Dominica? And when I said no, it really prompted me to question where I fit,听and to聽know more about my聽family聽roots. So, I used my student loan to pay for me and my mum to fly out to Ghana. I didn鈥檛 know what to expect, I just knew that I wanted to photograph everything that I saw 鈥 people, places, the rooms we were staying in. People did speak English, but it was more common to hear them speaking in their mother tongue so there was a lot of times when I was just observing, which really informed how I took my photographs.聽聽
A: How do you incorporate a sense of spontaneity into your creative practice?聽
EP: I often take pictures on my mobile phone, because it鈥檚 something easy to carry that I鈥檒l always have with me and prior to that I used to use a compact film camera. I will take a picture, even if it鈥檚 just to document the idea, and then return to that location with my camera. For a few years, I did a whole series of images called Mobile Phone Portraits,听which stemmed from being in the park, seeing a family and thinking 鈥渢hey look聽interesting visually.鈥 There was a grandmother聽holding a baby聽and then a women I think was聽the baby鈥檚 mother, as well as two聽young聽boys,听one of which looks up from his Nintendo DS. The scene was聽touching, and I asked if I could take a picture of them because I didn鈥檛 want to let that moment pass me by.聽
A: You worked with your own family in聽Red, Gold and Green,听to create portraits in their London homes. What was it like to collaborate with your relatives on a project?
EP: During the trip to Ghana, it hit me how important my mum鈥檚 friends were to her back in London. They were her family. I thought, okay, I need to document the people we consider family, because they鈥檝e been integral to my mum鈥檚 life. I couldn鈥檛 ask them to come to the university in Farnham to be photographed, so I came up with the concept of taking the studio to them. I鈥檇 take lights and backdrops and set them up in people鈥檚 homes. I also decided to use red, gold and green, which are the colours of the Ghanaian flag.聽
A: Talk us through聽A Thousand Small Stories.聽What was the process of looking back at your career and putting the show together?聽
贰笔:听Bindi Vora, the curator of the show, is a former student of mine聽from聽the University of Westminster. It鈥檚 been an interesting process聽having her curate this exhibition.聽She has come to my聽home聽a few times, as I don鈥檛 have a studio, to go through my work and make an inventory. Some of those works have been聽stored聽in cupboards for years, so it was strangely emotional to take it all out and go through it.聽A Thousand Small Stories聽is just a snippet of my聽photographic archive.聽I could fill three or four more rooms, so it was fascinating to see the process of curation and watch Bindi decide聽which are the key moments she wanted to pull out for the exhibition.聽
A: The show opens with聽When am I gonna stop being wise beyond my years?,听which addresses the realities teenage girls face while grappling with social media, body image and misogyny. Has social media and technology changed how you see portraiture?
EP:聽That project was commissioned by聽Face Magazine,听and came about after the editor saw my work in an exhibition at Somerset House. It was an honour to be noticed by them, so many years after I first became familiar with their work in my teens and early 20s. In terms of how social media and technology has shaped photography, it鈥檚 a big question. A lot of my work is focused on identity, and you can see how people view themselves differently these days due to social media. If anything, we鈥檙e oversaturated with images now and its quite overwhelming. People take selfies all the time, and it鈥檚 interesting to see how everyone having a phone in their pocket has changed the world. It鈥檚 a great equaliser, and even to think about things like the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the use of camera phone footage was central to that becoming public knowledge. Social media influences how we see ourselves, but it also changes how we see the world.聽
A: Hair and hairstyles are an important part of your work, especially in iconic portraits like聽Afro Hair and Beauty Show.聽Why did this idea become so central to your practice?聽
EP:聽At the time that I did the聽Afro Hair and Beauty Show聽series,听I felt like I wasn鈥檛 seeing images like that in the mass media. If there was a person of colour, they were usually the pinnacle of success like a musician or an athlete, or it went the other way and there鈥檇 be negative portrayals,听such as聽charity campaigns of children starving in Africa. That was the kind of extremes you had. I grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, and there were definitely the beginnings of positive Black role models, but it was still very limited. I documented real people who looked good. I wanted to hang聽these types of聽images on the walls of galleries, because you just didn鈥檛 see that in the museum space.聽
A: When you reflect on your career, are there any moments that you are particularly proud of?
贰笔:听Obviously that trip to Ghana shifted so much for me, it was a defining moment in both my personal and creative identity and shaped how I view myself, my family and community. Other than that, I鈥檓 really glad I made聽Grace聽(2000), which featured people with gaps in their front聽teeth. This series includes the聽last photograph I took聽of my Mum.聽She came along to the Royal College, and I took her portrait. That happened in February, and she passed away unexpectedly in April.聽I then decided to name this series after her.聽I鈥檓 so pleased聽I have that. Photography has given me a gateway into a life that I could never have imagined. I鈥檝e been able to travel to new places and capture different communities. I did a commission for King鈥檚 College Law School in 2015. I went into their library and it was like something from a聽Harry Potter book. I鈥檇 never have seen that if it wasn鈥檛 for聽my career. I鈥檓 honoured to say that I take photographs for a living.聽
A: Is there a person or portrait that has stuck with you?聽
EP:聽Different communities come to mind for different reasons. I had an exhibition with Pump House Gallery years ago, and it was part of an outreach programme. I聽ran a series of workshops聽with a group of adults from Wandsworth Mind, a mental health charity that ran a day centre. We did some photography together and went to see an exhibition at Photo Fusion. Daniel Meadows鈥 work was on show at the time, and some people really resonated with it. I was just interested in how individuals found their voices through聽each session, and the vulnerability聽and聽openness of those taking part. Of course, the images of my family are also very important to me. Some people have passed away since they were taken, so I鈥檓 really glad that photography gave me the urge to document the people around me.
A: What do you hope audiences take away from viewing your work?
贰笔:听It鈥檚 funny, I never thought an exhibition like this would happen to me so to have this level of recognition is amazing. I hope the show makes people who are starting out feel like anything is possible. Especially for Black, female creatives, who often face more barriers to getting their work seen, I hope it gives them hope to follow their dream. Even if their calling isn鈥檛 photography, just to throw yourself聽into whatever you are passionate about聽and really engage with it.聽聽
A Thousand Small Stories is at Autograph, London until 13 September:
Words: Emma Jacob & Eileen Perrier
Image credits:
1&6. Eileen Perrier, from Afro Hair and Beauty Show, 1998-2003. Courtesy the artist and Autograph.
2. Eileen Perrier, from the series Ghana, 1995-1996. Courtesy the artist and Autograph, London.
3. Eileen Perrier, from the series Grace, 2000. Courtesy the artist and Autograph, London.
4. Eileen Perrier, from the series Ghana, 1995-1996. Courtesy the artist and Autograph, London.
5. Eileen Perrier, from the series Afro Hair and Beauty Show, 1998-2003. Courtesy the artist and Autograph.
