"I began making my Story Boxes 7 or 8 years ago. For most of the boxes I use vintage cameras combined with digital processes to produce images that look as though they are drawn from another era. I then combine these with found objects to create collages layered and arranged in antique wooden boxes. These Story Boxes are intended to be like inner landscapes, addressing the recurrent themes of the smothering of identity and our fear of being seen - truly seen by those around us. But during lockdown, instead of producing new imagery, I used a series of old family photographs my mother gave me."

“The Amateur Mechanic”, “Out of the Waves” and “A Woman’s Work” are from this series and they are an attempt to explore the ambiguities inherent in the stories of family history.

I source the boxes themselves from auctions and house clearances and the contents of the box are the ephemera of everyday life, the junk that others throw away: old book covers, flakes of old textured paint, strips of leather, old nails, snippets of newspaper from years past”. - Claire Newman-Williams