Born in Sierra Leone, raised in Kingston, Jamaica, Berette Macaulay states, “People collect dolls and coins, I collect memories”. 

Pursuing theater in college, she took photography as an elective. "It was only then that I began to think in the language of a photographer." While she developed a visual arts practice, Macaulay graduated with a Theater Arts degree and later, a Masters in Cultural Studies.

Berthan Macaulay Q.C. in Sierra Leone.

“My dad was a lawyer, he had a lot of ties.” Macaulay’s image “Ties That Bind” from her series mine objects, is the result of a life-changer. “He died suddenly in 2006. It took a while for my mom and me to process his passing .”  After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, there was a call for men’s clothes. They donated to the cause. “He loved Haiti and worked there. It felt like the right passage for his things.” 

Photos from Macaulay's series of her father's things called mine objects: (L) entitled, Myth Of The Man.
(R) entitled, My Daddy's Clothes Donated To Haiti
From mine objects: Myth Of The Man, autoportrait

Ritualizing the sort, she photographed the tending of her father’s clothing. His daughter collected his neckties to assemble an array of high-flying colors, ascending. “It symbolizes his work life; his passion for the law,” she adds, “It’s like an abstract apogee of my dad. ”

Ties That Bind (my father's ties) from mine objects.

The photographer's father, Berthan Macaulay Q.C.

View more of Berette Macaulay’s work at berettemacaulay.com