browseWheatley Hill
Mary Gillens (Photographer)
Original Side Gallery touring exhibition text, 1990:
Mary Gillens moved to Wheatley Hill in East Durham from Fatfield when she married. She came from a family of 22 and she herself had 5 children, 2 boys, Ralph and William (he died at the age of 13), and 3 girls, Gladys, Florrie and Una. They lived first at 13, Smith Street then moved to 20, Gullock Street where they stayed for about 9 years. It was during this time, when her family were young, that Mary started to take photographs with her box brownie camera. Her work is a reflection of her domestic situation. She documented her family and friends in Wheatley Hill and the subjects rarely posed. If something caught her eye she would run in the house and return to the scene, camera in hand. Her daughter Florrie remembers an incident when the children had put together a makeshift tent in the back lane. Her mother came out to photograph the fun and took the picture at the exact moment when Fritz the dog had completely demolished the tent
Mary died in 1967 at the age of 78. Her negatives were kept by her daughter Florrie. Florrie’s son, Robert, attended a photography course at Peterlee, the new town not far from Wheatley Hill, and the students were asked to take in any old negatives. Robert took along his grandmother’s. They were enlarged and this wonderful exhibition resulted.
The work is a testament to the importance of documenting domestic lives, although the images live for themselves transcending the simplicity of the subject matter. We would like to thank Florrie Rose (Mary’s daughter) for her help with the exhibition.