A Mother’s Ways of Seeing
Claire Vincent
Portfolio
claire@poplamedia.com
A Mother’s Ways of Seeing
Film, photography, illustration, and written records
This body of work draws on my family archive. As a family, we record our life together in film, photography, illustration, and sound. The archive also holds the records that gathered around us, such as letters, medical records, and school reports.
Revisiting older material and making new work, I am reflecting on how I see my children as a mother, and what this might reveal about motherhood, care, and difference. The work shown here is early and experimental.
Everyone who appears in this portfolio has given consent to be included and for the work to be shared. My family have all seen it. In future, I would like to work on it together with my family, choosing micro stories from everyday moments such as time around the table, birthdays, and holidays. My daughter Mia, who is studying art, may add her own drawings if she wants to.
I Want to Be Elena
2017–2026 · Film, 4 min 59 sec
A dual-screen study made in 2026, testing ideas for a planned installation. Drawing together footage from across the archive into a micro story, I am experimenting with condensing time, placing past and present side by side, and letting my own memories guide the process. Sound recordings from the archive are layered over different footage, so what is heard and what is seen don’t always come from the same moment.
The sequence follows Mia, who was born with CHARGE syndrome and is deafblind, from the age of six to fifteen. At its centre is her preparation for bone-anchored hearing implant (BAHA) surgery, her hospital stay, and her recovery, set alongside everyday life with family and friends.
By moving between the hospital and the everyday, the sequence explores what it means to hold both at once.
Family Archive
2014–2024 · Photography
Photographs of my three children growing up, selected and curated in 2026: birthday parties at home, short holidays, lockdown afternoons, and hospital visits. Some images are paired, using the same side-by-side approach as the film.
One pairing shows Mia on a spinning teacup ride beside a rotating chair used to test her balance at Great Ormond Street Hospital. One spins for fun, the other for medical reasons. Both are part of her everyday life.
The Space Between
2017–2026 · Illustration, charts, and handwritten notes
Alongside film and photography, the archive holds drawings, notes, and records, some made at the time and others remade from memory. Working with them, I am exploring the space between what happened, how it was recorded, and how I remember it.
I also want to look at a side of care that rarely appears in family photographs: the meetings, reports, and fights over Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) and school provision. For many mothers of disabled children, this is one of the most stressful, even traumatic, parts of raising a child. Open Day is a first attempt to show this, and I want to develop it further.
Illustrations of Mia
2017 · Hand-drawn digital
Two illustrations from a series made around the time of Mia’s BAHA surgery, when she was six. Drawing allows me to record moments in a way that feels less intrusive and more personal.
Red Books
2026 · Weight charts, replotted from memory
Weight charts from Oscar, Oliver and Mia’s first year, replotted from my memory of their Red Books. All three were born weighing 7 lb 2 oz. The boys’ dots climb steadily along the curves. After open-heart surgery at four days old, Mia’s weight dropped sharply and went below the lowest percentile. Babies with CHARGE syndrome often grow differently, but the chart measures every baby against the same standard. Mia was gaining weight along her own line, yet I was under constant pressure by medical professionals to get her back above the lowest percentile. When I look at these charts, I see the joy of watching my children grow, and the anxiety of seeing one measured against a chart never made for her.
Open Day
2026 · Handwritten notes, rewritten from memory
Two lists from 2015, rewritten from memory. The first is what the headteacher promised at the open day for our local primary school, where Mia’s brothers were already pupils. The second is what we were told a month later, after I had shared Mia’s medical records and EHCP. The school had one way of presenting itself to most families, and another for families of disabled children. It was my first experience as a mother of open disability discrimination, and it was a real shock. With advice from the charity Sense, I challenged the school, and they later apologised. Mia started there a year later and did well. In Year 6, she moved to a specialist school for deaf children, where she continues to thrive.
Collaborative Work
Film, animation, illustration, and immersive media
I am a creative director and practising artist, telling stories through film, photography, illustration, design, and immersive media (360° film and augmented reality). I collaborate with charities, healthcare organisations, artists, and researchers. These projects bring together stories of lived experience, care, inequality, and representation. The two projects shown here reflect the breadth of this work, from healthcare to community-led documentary.
We Are a Research Hospital
Great Ormond Street Hospital · 2021 · Animation, 2 min 23 sec
An animation that celebrates Great Ormond Street Hospital’s (GOSH) commitment to research, made for staff, patients, and families. It follows a journey through the hospital, with characters that reflect the diversity of its children, families, staff, and wider community. The central character is based on my daughter Mia and some of her experiences at the hospital. It is one of seven films and animations I have made with GOSH since 2019.
Role: Creative Director, Producer, Storyboard Artist, and Illustrator
Working with a scriptwriter and the hospital’s communications team, I developed the script outline. From there, I designed and illustrated the characters and storyboarded the animation. I directed the voiceover recording with the actor Andrew Lincoln. Working alongside the animator, I directed the animation. The illustrations appear widely on wall murals across the hospital, as well as in documents and other materials for patients, staff, and the public.
The Winter Garden
Funded by SPACE · 2016–2019 · 360° documentary film, 2D trailer, 2 min 57 sec
A documentary made with residents of Granby Four Streets in Liverpool and Assemble, the Turner Prize-winning collective of artists, architects, and designers. Filmed over three years, it explores the transformation of two derelict Victorian houses into the Winter Garden, a community space and artists’ residence. It tells the story of how a small group of women, whose neighbourhood had been left to decline for decades, campaigned to save and regenerate it, and the creativity and collaboration behind the project.
Role: Co-Producer and Co-Editorial Director
At Popla Media, the creative partnership I co-run, we had the idea to make the film and won the funding. The film was made collaboratively, with the whole production team working alongside Granby residents and Assemble. I contributed to the narrative and editorial direction, including selecting contributors and structuring the interviews. I also helped develop the content edit and visual approach.
Winner, Global Film Festival Awards 2020. Official selection, Sheffield Doc/Fest 2019, screened in the festival’s 360° dome. Official selection, 360 Film Festival, Toronto New Wave Festival, and Rome Independent Prisma Awards, 2019.