Léonie HamptonIn the Shadow of Things (Signed)

'In the Shadow of Things follows Léonie's family in their daily lives as she visits them, but reveals in an extraordinary freshness of approach, working in a flexible and natural way, using colour and ambient light, and no artificial effects. This lets her garner moments of tenderness, children’s games, instants of anguish and pain. This is not a narrative or a story, strictly speaking. Rather, it follows life and its threads as they weave together; taking us far beyond mere demonstration and making us each look into the real world.' Christian Cajoulle

In May 2011 Contrasto published In the Shadow of Things. The work explores her family's attempts to clear her mother's house, which had become overwhelmed by objects. In 2007, a deal was struck: Léonie would help her mother unpack the boxes and attempt to deal with the past, with the tacit understanding that she be allowed to document that process. She combined photography, film and sound to navigate the tide of emotions that erupted when this landscape of possessions was disturbed. The work is a personal study of the emotional impact that OCD can have on both the sufferer and their immediate family. It explores the delicate, troubled and loving relationship between mother and daughter, and a mother and her possessions.