I think it is true to say that most of us eventually find out that we live in a lonely world and that it is only through communication with others that we push back the silence. The lucky ones find it through love and affections, and many more do so through shared pleasure and good humor. But it is within the grasp of all of us to make life more bearable through the rich vocabulary of the arts.

I would be untrue to the spirit of my part in this creativity if I did not remember that while I am satisfying my own professional imperatives I am dealing with real people. This puts my desire for good picture-making into a particular category, one where the events I am recording are reflecting on real people’s lives. No other art form is so constricted, even within the many other areas of photographic expression; but those very restrictions are often the yardstick by which many of us judge ourselves, over and above matters of style, light and composition, and I, personally, believe that a strong element in this recording of reality lies in trying to invest the everyday with a little joy.

Statement courtesy of Grace Robertson

Photojournalist, Teacher

London
Seaford

none

wife of Thurston Hopkins

Officer Medal, Order of the British Empire, London, England (1998) Honorary Fellowship, Royal Photographic Society, Bath, England (1996) Distinguished Photographer Award, Women in Photography International, Los Angeles, CA, USA (1992)

Grace Robertson, Zelda Cheatle Gallery, London, England (1989)

A History of Women Photographers

Grace Robertson: A Sympathetic Eye, Millais Gallery, Southampton Solent University, Southampton, England (2003) Grace Robertson: Retrospective, University of Brighton, Brighton, England (2002)