The Unbreakable Rope

Lisa Bretherick
b. 1981, UK
After a career working in graphic design and
brand marketing, Lisa Bretherick discovered
her calling in documentary and portrait photography.
Combining her two loves -- art and
people -- she began training alongside professional
photographers to refine her skills. Lisa’s
resulting body of work focusses on capturing
human emotion in a variety of states. “If I have
an aim when I photograph, it is to tell stories
that evoke emotion and reaction which would
not otherwise be experienced. If those experiences
change attitudes, emotions or actions,
then the stories have been worth telling.”
Lisa has exhibited work at the Science
Museum and at The Hub Kings Cross. She has
also worked with high-profile charities including
Cancer Research, De Paul, Diabetes UK,
British Heart Foundation, Women’s Rape and
Sexual Abuse Centre, the Big Issue and Age
Concern, using her photographs as a medium
to tell passionate stories of human lives involved
with these causes.
For The unbreakable rope, Lisa is presenting a
series of images taken surrounding the tragic
circumstances in which a romantic relationship
was cut short. On 30th July 2014, Dr Nazim
Mahmood ended his own life, two days after
his religious family confronted him about his
homosexuality. It was the first time they had
heard about his thirteen-year relationship with
his fiancé, Matt Ogston. In Naz’s memory,
Matt set up the Naz and Matt Foundation
to support and empower LGBTQI (Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and
Intersex) individuals, their friends and family
to help resolve challenges linked to gender
and sexual identity, particularly where religion
exerts a strong influence. The Naz and Matt
Foundation hopes to open closed minds in
families and in communities, so non-heteronormative
individuals are loved for who they are
and who they were born to be.
Spending time with Matt over the past year, I
have seen and experienced some of his journey
with him since his partner Naz passed
away. I could never pretend to understand or
feel the amount of pain he has been through,
but over time he has given me a little window
into some of his thoughts and fears, highs and
lows, memories, regrets and unanswered questions.
Photographing with Matt has become a
medium for him to document his thoughts and
memories in order to allow him the opportunity
to let them go. It has become a means of
sharing his journey in the hope that we can
affect hearts and minds. Together we have
been down memory lane - he has talked, we
have sat in silence, we have walked and listened
and taken in our surroundings. I have
photographed when I feel the time is right and
when there are feelings to capture. The images
are intimate and raw. We are not trying to tell
anyone anything, or shock people into seeing
different things, just exposing human nature in
its most raw and innocent form, in the hope
that anyone, whatever religion, faith, background
or age might be able to connect to
Matt’s story. Through connection, we are some
of the way to opening minds to new ways of
thinking.
Lost in Memory
Digital display
Production by Lisa Bretherick with audio by Jessica Marlow and voiced by Matthew Naz Mahmood-Ogston
2016
The Celebration of Naz
Prints on Fuji DPII Silver Halide mounted on MDF
40 x 30 cm (each panel)
2014