I Remember When...
"This picture was taken in 2016 in my London studio as press material for a gala fundraising event for the Hirshhorn Museum where I was featured as an honouree artist. My friend Charlie took it. He came to help me that day to generate a range of press material including a cringy video where I had to talk about "what art means to me". This headshot photo captures a staged moment of myself where I am posing as an "artist" in my natural habitat, my studio."
"This was pretty much on my 32nd birthday, which I spent in New York – it’s taken in front of a Jackson Pollock painting"
"This is from the morning of my 5th birthday (so 1988), with me surrounded by presents and balloons. You can just about see the rear end of a Spot the Dog cuddly toy, who quickly became one of my best friends and went everywhere with me. You can also see half a box of an A La Carte Kitchen, which I absolutely loved!! This has always been a photo that family members have brought out at various points to try and embarrass me, and it has very much become how I imagine myself when thinking back to that age. So, if ever I’m imagining what it’s like to be five years old, I see me, on that bed, with messy hair and a slightly awkward grin. Later on that day I got really sick and had to be rushed to hospital, which started a new tradition of me being ill/having accidents on my birthday."
"Living my best life at nursery"
"This is me with a giant tennis ball at my parents' house in Ireland. My mum is Irish so we used to spend a lot of time over there with the rest of the family. I remember spending most Christmas's there with 20 people around the dinner table, as well as various half terms and summer trips away. What is sad is that as my sisters, my cousins and I have grown up, we have spent less and less time there. As well as us all having increasingly become more and more busy, it has become more inconvenient to top and tale in the beds!"
"Got my hair done and for the first time in forever I actually liked it"
"Me with mascara running down my face after laughing so hard with my best friend and sister. We were all cackling together"
"Hot day, couple days after I cut myself a mullet because I was drunk."
"me on the tiller of my narrowboat!"
"This was a professional head shot taken by photographer Steve Best. It features in his book Joker Face, a book where comedians’ pictures are accompanied by one of their jokes. I don’t know why he picked me, as I’m not a comedian even though people have been known to laugh when I’m on stage."
"This is me on my way to work and the sun was shining really bright so I took a selfie"
"So this is me at the beginning of my birthday month when the boyfriend (James) surprised me with all of my uni friends and home friends all in one place and I don’t think I’ve ever felt more like I was dreaming ever? Seeing all your favourite people in one place when you usually see them separately is basically the dream scenario and took me honestly about 2 hours and 4 glasses of Prosecco to realise it was real. Pretty unforgettable time in my life and it may be cringe but the smile on my face in this reminds me of it."
"Me trying out hat ideas for a clown show."
"This photo was taken just before I went on stage for a comedy show, you might not be able to tell but I was 3 k ciders and 2 shots of tequila down already"
"Taken in the beginning of my 2nd year at uni, i.e. mid November 2018. Was for my first ever Imperial Musical Theatre show - Revue 2018: It's All Happening, which is a show that is a compilation of many different musical numbers! Was the show week when I properly met and got acquainted with Ellie :P"
"This picture was taken on a night that I was so stressed about uni work, that the only way I could make myself feel better was to ignore all uni work and play with makeup instead."
Memory can be deceiving... The images above may not be as familiar as they once were to those participants who kindly sent them in for us to feature. However, we appreciate that to those who are not featured in this section, it may not have quite the same effect. Therefore, below we have repeated the images alongside the originals so that everyone can view the difference, and experience how our minds may warp or alter memories over time. You will see that some are very different, and some changes have been more subtle. Hover over each image to view the original (if you are on mobile, the original image will show automatically).
A big thanks to those who kindly sent in photographs for us to feature on this page.