Poppy Promises

Reconnecting with his father after years of estrangement, Duffield’s series Poppy Promises follows the nine-year process of rebuilding a relationship that was once strained by addiction.

Reconciling with this challenging enclave of his own family history, the project explores the effect of his father’s heroin addiction on his parents’ relationship, recognising the previously overlooked role his mother played as a single parent in the absence of his father.

As the sequence unfolds, a rhythmic structure of portraiture and allegorical still-life photographs alternate as the series seeks to communicate the complex emotional landscape that is present in households that experience addiction. The tensions that run beneath the surface, the highs, lows, and occasional calamities.

Incorporating his father's voice in the project alongside his own, a series of text messages exchanged between father and son offers a textual layer to the series that carries both subtle humour and a sense of pathos that reverberates alongside the photographs.