The Garden of Maggie Victoria

This series explores memory and female representation through the story of my great-grandmother, forgotten within my family after her early death in 1943. It integrates archival materials with my own contemporary images to revive my ancestor's legacy.

I first learned about Maggie Victoria, my great-grandmother, in January 2022 as I dug through our unruly family archives. Her somehow familiar face emerged from a cache of photos mostly captured by her husband – my great-grandfather Frank, who was a keen amateur photographer – in Lancashire, England. Wanting to revive my great-grandmother’s story, I combined those images, archival letters and other found materials with my own nature-oriented photographs made in Vancouver, Canada, where I now live. 

Following a fast-moving illness, Maggie Victoria took her last breath during wartime, aged only 56. As was often the way back then, Frank quickly re-married, and no one talked about her after that – not even her children. Maggie Victoria’s story was thus erased for decades, but through the archives I got to know her as a mother, wife, proud gardener and – importantly – a woman.

Many of the images Frank made of his wife show her in domestic settings. This ongoing series reworks scans of those images with my own photographs tracking the changing seasons, in distant Canada. By adding layers, primarily via digital collage, my goal is to connect with Maggie Victoria, and question the male gaze cementing her role.

My use of colour seeks to echo her life stages and experiences. In combining my contemporary images with the archival monochrome images I aim to compare two contrasting time periods and reflect on the changing nature of photography.

This project is an attempt to render Maggie Victoria visible, and a call to women to take up space. In recovering these images from disorganized piles, I have sought to construct new visual narratives from old stories. Further, in discussing this project with others, complete strangers have voluntarily shared with me their own familial tales of loss, mystery or secrecy. Anchored in a personal meditation, the series invites us to consider issues of heritage, grief and the passing of time that affect us all.

Additional information about my great-grandmother's life, and how the project came together, may be found in a special section on my website: https://www.rachelnixon.com/the-garden-of-maggie-victoria