Ellen really has an amazing story to tell. Sent out to Australia from Germany by her family when she was just eight years old to escape the atrocities of the Second World War, it wasn’t until she was a grown woman that she saw her mother again. However, no matter what we tried, we couldn’t seem to get her story adequately across to an audience. Being such a naturally reserved person, especially in the company of three students she’d never met before, she told stories with minimum detail and rarely spoke in full sentences. Upon the suggestion of David Carlin and editing consultant Anne Carter, the concept of narration was brought up as a means of filling the gaps yet still letting her control the story.

The portrait itself is bookmarked at either end by shots of Ellen quietly looking through photo albums. It was a case of actions speaking louder than words as we sat back and let her take us through a photographic story of her life. We saw shots of her as a young girl with her family in Germany, images of all the children playing in the surroundings of the Frances Barkman Children’s Home and photos of the trip she took with her own family back to where it all began. While she wouldn’t necessarily speak her mind, the expressions on her face said so much.

   When we heard that Ellen grew up in a home in Balwyn the thought of taking her back there immediately sprung to mind. We decided to take a camera with us to document the trip but were nervous about venturing into the unknown. We had no idea about what was going to happen or how she was going to react. We asked an array of questions about what it was like living there and what she remembered and she was happy to answer as she could. Unfortunately the place no longer resembled anything like it once did. A retirement home stood in its place and the large backyard had been subdivided into new homes. The most confronting issue of the trip was on the way home hearing how it didn’t mean much to her anymore. The brutal honesty shocked us in many ways but in hindsight it was her way of moving on. All that mattered now were the memories she kept and the friendships she had formed with the other people.

As we look back on it we are very proud of the portrait and hope that Ellen gets as much satisfaction out of what was made as we did ourselves.
- Lachlan, Sandra and Hendrik