2nd Place, "In This Place" by Margaret Mitchell
'In This Place' is a personal yet universal story of family, love, loss and survival, set within a wider socio-economic context. Against a backdrop of parental loss and limited opportunities, I relate the story of my late sister's adult children and their families.
I first photographed my sister's children over 20 years ago. This series tells their stories now through their emotional, social and economic circumstances. Although they have moved in 20 years, it is from one area of housing, income, health and opportunity deprivation, to a comparable area nearby.
Life feels somewhat static in the housing estates in Stirling in central Scotland; as the world changes, lives remain the same. The series raises questions about choice; do we have choices in life or are some predetermined or made for us? Is the place we put ourselves, and where we are put by others or circumstance, mental, as well as physical?