All Together Now is a documented discussion between Clare Thackway and her three artist siblings, Giles, Hilary and William on how they could collaborate to make a family portrait. Sitting at their old home-school desks in the house they grew up in, they discuss their personal and collective history and their individual approach to art-making. Though the collaboration has not yet eventuated, what remains is a portrayal of their “often tenuous” relationship dynamics.
In this controlled scenario, Thackway considers the fine line between particularity and universality of familial connections and seeks to rethink the classical genre of family portraiture as a communicative space.
This work demonstrates a two-fold approach to the construction of meaning: that which is experienced by the viewer, witnessing an intimate and idiosyncratic interaction; and that of the family member whose participation becomes a record of family history and a potential re-contextualising of a collective memory and identity.
