Catherine Anfield

The history of our family has been a major work for over twenty years now. The patterns of people and places, over several generations moving in the UK and overseas have completely changed the way I look at each branch of the family.

For several years, I went to the Service of Remembrance to take photographs and talk with Evan, who served on five continents in the Second World War. Evan was always very humble about what he did for this country during that war, and I don’t think he ever fully appreciated what his service meant to others.

It’s difficult to make sense of families, sometimes. You grow up thinking that you know people completely because they are always present. They seem so familiar that you never quite see what is glaringly obvious, in hindsight.

The garden was always my domain. I injured my spine, and now I am partially paralysed from the neck down. I can point at stuff, and say where plants need to be positioned for me to be able to see them from where I sit by the backdoor.