Interview by: Jiaqi Zhang Project: "Cry Baby"

What is the story behind the project and how did you come up with the name "Cry Baby"?

I was initially contacted by a friend to create a piece for her exhibition called "The Breakup Party" The brief was to create work around the themes of love and loss to be exhibited within a house in Melbourne. I was drawn to exhibiting in the bathroom as this is a place for me which represents sadness; often the bathroom is a place to escape and release your emotions. I then based my concept around these feelings and decided a series on crying in the bathroom would be interesting to explore. I wanted to photograph a variety of youth so contacted some of my friends to see if they would be interested. Then over the space of a month, I shot them in my bathroom.

What were the challenges that you faced during the photoshoot? How did you capture the emotions of your subjects?

It was important to me that the tears were real and were relevant to that individual person, so I asked each to think of a sad memory or hurtful words that have stuck with them; these are written by each below their photograph. For some, a song helped bring these emotions forth. It was overall an emotional but great experience, one of trust and vulnerability. For some, it was a challenge to cry on demand but for most, we got there in the end and I was often shedding a few tears too.

Why did you choose to photograph in the bathroom?

I see the bathroom as a place of sadness, a place you can escape to. Whether that's in high school hiding out in the cubicles from bullies, at a house party after a fight with a friend, or simply in your own house having a good cry in the shower. A bathroom is a place where you can lock the door and let it all out.