Dissertation Research & Tutorial
Tuesday 21st October 2025 and I headed to University of Wolverhampton arriving at the classroom on the 2nd floor of the George Wallis building at 9am. I set up my laptop and got working, I was on my own and nobody else arrived until 9:45am so I was onto the WLV Library search to look for articles about grief and photography. I found a few sources that fit the bill and then had a read through pulling out some quotes that fit my dissertation around the theme of Grief and Photography.
Some of the texts I’ve found so far include:
Grief(2025) Raritan [online], 44(3), pp. 48–181 .
Al Sheikh, H.M. (2025) Digital mourning: The transformative role of photography in contemporary grief practices. Death studies [online]pp. 1–12 .
Blood, C. and Cacciatore, J. (2014) Parental Grief and Memento Mori Photography: Narrative, Meaning, Culture, and Context. Death studies [online], 38(4), pp. 224–233 .
Dannemann, A., Boris, S. and Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation. (2020) Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2020 : Mohamed Bourouissa, Anton Kusters, Mark Neville, Clare Strand. [online] London: Photographers Gallery..
Harris, J. and Edmonds, J. (2015) Exploring grief with photography. Bereavement care [online], 34(2), pp. 76–80 .
Hilliker, L. (2006) Letting Go While Holding On: Postmortem Photography as an Aid in the Grieving Process. Illness, crisis, and loss [online], 14(3), pp. 245–269 .
Jiménez-Alonso, B. and Brescó de Luna, I. (2022) Grief, photography and meaning making: A psychological constructivist approach. Culture & psychology [online], 28(1), pp. 107–132 .
Jiménez-Alonso, B. and de Luna, I.B. (2021) Narratives of Loss: Exploring Grief through Photography. Qualitative studies [online], 6(1), pp. 91–115 .
Rousseau, P. (2022) Grief. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) [online], 70(12), pp. 3656 .
Worden, J.W., Worden, J.W. and NetLibrary, I. (2003) Grief counselling and grief therapy a handbook for the mental health practitioner. [online] 3rd ed. Hove, East Sussex ;: Brunner-Routledge..
Zeisel, J. (1974) Robert Gutman (ed.): PEOPLE AND BUILDINGS. Social forces [online], 53(1), pp. 156 .
Tutorial
Discussion with Gavin on the 21st October 2025
Before I left the uni I sat with Gavin and discussed the Shirehall Photographic Portrait project. I informed him that I have sent emails to the council and will follow it up until I get a Yes or No.
I also mentioned about the Facebook call out on the You Know You’re From Shrewsbury page, with a request for people to send images of themselves in the Shirehall complex, whether it may have been during their working life, registering a birth, death or getting married, or even an appearance at the Crown Courts which sit within the buildings..
I mentioned that since I’d begun this project I had remembered times when Shirehall was important to me growing up, playing in the fountain an pool, going up and down the Lord Hill Column, (abseil and climbing), zipline from the top of the main buildings and then in 2007 using the space to learn unicycle riding. In 2020 I returned to the location many times to get on with my Onewheel riding practice too.
Gavin suggested that I can find on the WLV Library website other media related to the Shirehall buildings such as newspapers and tv shows, he also gave me some other artists names to look into.
- Box Of Broadcasts on Library Website – all TV shows produced.
- Lexis Library is an archive of newspapers that are collected for Law courses
- Bill Drummond an artist who used the same spot under the spaghetti junction to capture some works, when it was lit by a shaft of light from above.
- Foka Wolf – produces images, posters, stickers on advertising posters to introduce cans of beer into big housing or construction posters etc.
Library Reading
After the tutorial I disappeared over to the library to carry on the research for my dissertation so I walked up to the second floor and started to make my way to the tables by the windows. I stopped in the photography section and had a quick squint at the shelves. I noticed a book in a black sleeve called Composing Space, published by Phaidon from 2012 by Hélène Binet. Upon opening the book on the table I saw a collection of photographs that I would say my work was inspired by, if I’d ever seen the work before.
There are some wonderful images of architecture and she works with some heavyweight architectural firms and is known for not playing by the same rules as other architectural photographers. She gets to know the building and take photos of the structures that reflect the mood or vibe that she picks up from it. There are some wonderful photos in here but the one that struck me was the swimming pool with the light reflections. Simply mega. I’ll be looking up some more of her work again.
Be First to Comment