Sue Parkhill’s photographs possess an immediate poetry that goes straight to the heart. Her work is unstudied and instinctive — sensitive, painterly in its use of light, yet grounded in an irresistible and compelling reality. Each image feels freshly observed, charged with empathy and a quiet breadth of vision.
Born and raised in Australia, Parkhill moved to London thirty years ago — a time when the only reliable way to navigate the city was by using the A–Z map book. “Everyone had one,” she recalls. “It showed you the way. This work is my own visual A–Z: photos over the years from trips back to Australia — my personal map, a record of memory and longing, so I can always find my way back.”
With intelligent humour and an unflinching curiosity, Parkhill’s photography explores the people and shifting world around her. She captures the tender beauty of the ordinary, finding meaning in fleeting details that might otherwise go unnoticed. For her, photography is both a tool to navigate life and a way to interpret it — “an extension of my personality,” she says. “It is who I am.”
Parkhill’s images are consistently original, witty and insightful. Her work has been exhibited across Europe, North America and Australia. She received her MA in Fine Art from the Royal College of Art, was selected for PDN’s 30, and twice named among the UK’s top ten photographers by Campaign. Parkhill has also undertaken assignments for UNICEF and Farm Africa, and led British Council photography workshops in Azerbaijan and Nigeria.
For A–Z, the images are named and displayed in alphabetical order, forming columns that trace a long, organic line along the wall. The printed titles themselves create a poem — a lyrical index that guides viewers through this intimate memory map.
Parkhill’s A–Z is, ultimately, a cartography of emotion: a journey through place, memory and belonging, and a tender testament to the way photography can lead us home.
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