This was my final project at University. This documentary photography project looks at the lives of a community of women in South Yorkshire who call themselves “The Ladies Who Lunch”. The work explores the importance of relationships in working class communities and how they bring happiness in the good times and comfort during the hard times when they come together to provide support for each other. The final outcome of the project was all complied into a book.
This project was personally selected by Ella Ravilious (Curator. V&A Museum) and commented, 'Rather than reinforce negative stereotypes, Middlebrook’s sitters are laughing, subversive and individual. I am fascinated by depictions of older women in photography so this work immediately caught my eye, and reminded me of Grace Robertson’s mid-fifties series ‘Mother’s Day Off’ from the Picture Post. The image of the woman with black lenses or spheres over her eyes, her expression of suppressed laughter seeming to include us in her strange joke, I found particularly beguiling.' (Ella Ravilious)
This projected was then printed and published into Issue 108 of Source Magazine - GENERATIONS.
