A Profile of Christian Doyle

INTERVIEWING Christian Doyle on a sunny evening in the communal garden at the bottom of Arun Street with a bottle of wine seemed like a really good idea. However, transcribing the result the next day it seemed to be less like an interview and more like a roving discussion through every major topic relevant to Arundel and the world at large – very enjoyable but not exactly very structured!

One thing is clear – family features large in Christian’s life. She has four daughters ʻso while there are all the usual ups and downs of family life, there is a lot of love, ready support and shared humour’. Cecily lives in Barcelona, Alexandra and Lucia in Arundel, and Francesca has just moved to Brighton. Having started family life in Bosham, following divorce they all moved to Arundel in 1991 with Peter Smith, who possibly hadn’t realised what he was in for! Their first holiday, a few weeks after meeting each other, entailed a family camping trip to France; 6 children in the back of a Mercedes Estate, everybody getting to know each other as they drove along sharing music on a discman. Nowadays that family has grown to incorporate husbands and wives plus 7 grandchildren and 2 step grandchildren.

Initially they rented the ‘wonderfully romantic Carleton House’ on Maltravers Street, before buying ‘the complete wreck’ that was Walker House opposite the Eagle. At one time all daughters were working in both the bakeries, Pizza Express and The Eagle.

Christian has strong European roots. Her paternal grandmother used to like to say she didn’t have a drop of English blood in her, with her German father and French mother plus all sorts of Italian, Russian and even Latvian relatives. Having been sent to finishing school at 16 Christian stayed on to attend the Cours Etranger at Grenoble University. She then followed up her love of French culture by enrolling at Sussex University in 1995 on the French and European Studies degree course. This involved an Erasmus funded year to Toulouse University. With this European family history and all the benefits of her educational experience, she is saddened by Britain’s decision to leave Europe.

But it is Arundel that has provided wonderful long- lasting friendships and a core of support. It was meeting Amanda Metcalf just after moving in that cemented
the move into photography. Amanda bought some of Christian’s early photos for display in Worthing and Chichester Hospitals. Deciding to get to grips with the technique and art of photography, Christian applied to Central Saint Martins on the newly founded Diploma in Professional Photography. The result of this course was a job at the Royal Shakespeare Company where she spent a couple of weeks behind the scenes. ‘It was amazing,’ she remembers, ‘they paid for two of us selected from the course to stay up in Stratford to produce two portfolios of work.’ The first, ‘In Order of Appearance’, was a black and white series portraying everyone involved in the company, from the actors in costume to the stage hands, scenery painters, wig makers, wardrobe and electricians. The second, ʻIn Rehearsal’, documented
the weeks of rehearsals in the run up to opening night. Christian reflects: ‘It was nerve wracking because I didn’t really know what I was doing – I was caught up in the atmosphere and just learning as I went along.’

Another friend Catrina, suggested she applied the same aesthetic to photographing one of the secondary schools in the area- a fly on the wall approach where the pupils were the stars of the show; the results were then displayed along the corridors as an ongoing testament to school life. I wanted to concentrate on the struggle and the achievement involved for each of them as individuals not so much the prize winners or the star pupils.’ This work proved so successful the commissions spread across West Sussex and eventually to a large comprehensive in the East End of London. An amazing place where 27 different languages were spoken and many of the students didn’t speak English at all. The Head was a brilliant woman who valued everyone and praise and encouragement were everywhere. ‘I went back for three years to photograph them. Interestingly when this Head retired and a less talented person took her place, standards plummeted
and I couldn’t believe how quickly the building became litter strewn and how student behaviour deteriorated in a matter of months.’ She continued the work in schools for the best part of 20 years, basically until they no longer had the budgets available.

Christian has always exhibited her work at the Arundel Festival; ʻDear Cow’, ʻHorse Stories’ and ʻNot Every Story Has a Happy Ending’, a gallery of abandoned dogs, are three of those exhibitions. She sees the thread running through these collections; ‘Cows, horses, dogs share the same characteristics- love, fear, curiosity, strong family bonds and maternal instincts.’ She has become vegetarian as a result of her work and the close observation of so many animals. ‘Against the Tide’, a haunting portrayal of swimmers of all shapes, sizes, abilities and ages for which she was awarded International Photographic Exhibition runner-up