SIRLI RAITMA PHOTOGRAPHY

EHA

EHA is a photographic series featuring my mother, portrayed in a number of unusual situations, poses and attire with a slightly unsettling, cinematic feel. The series began in 2015 and is ongoing, having since become something of an international phenomenon, almost with a life of its own.

The real Eha was born in Estonia in 1950, before moving to London with myself and my son, just before the dawn of the new millennium. Widowed, suffering from epilepsy and lacking great command of English, she stayed tightly involved in family life. Then, in 2015, Eha began to suffer from depression and life became bleaker. Beyond the procession of doctor’s appointments and medications, a new focus was needed and, after a chance spark created one day by staging a photo to celebrate a new haircut and wearing an unusual-looking hat we’d spotted in a charity shop window, the EHA project – almost accidentally – was born.

Eha was a natural model from the outset. She had studied fashion construction when young and has retained a skill for and curiosity about dressmaking. In real life, as the project progressed, she became visibly more confident, engaging more readily with strangers and taking increasing pride in her appearance. The story became an unusual form of therapy enacted through acts of the imagination, where the exhibitionist personae we created helped bring the real Eha back to the surface.

Today, my mother’s depression and medical treatment are ongoing. It’s important to stress that though the project brings us an immense collaborative joy, it’s not a magic wand, serving to tie up all loose ends. At the same time, it has become intrinsic to her life and our relationship. It encircles us and keeps us safe.

The public success of the series began when two images from the series were selected as part of the Taylor Wessing Prize in 2019 – from a total of 55 in the exhibition, selected from 3,700 entrant photographs. Coverage since then has run from the book ‘Portrait of Humanity’ to national newspaper The Guardian in the UK and national television and print media across Scandinavia, in my native Estonia and as far away as Australia. Exhibitions and competition placements have included representing Estonia at the Visages d’Europe in Paris and being included in Life Framer, The American Photography Open and The British Journal of Photography’s ‘Portrait of Britain’ series. Its most recent dedicated exhibition at Museum of Photography Tallinn in Estonia, becoming the Museum’s most-visited exhibition since 1990.

Eha is very much an active player in the collaboration and, in spite of her health issues, her wonderful sense of humour is definitely a key ingredient of its appeal. When I was a child, my mother was full of plans and activities, from sewing to choir-singing to organising theatre trips. She hasn’t disappeared and this photo series continues to celebrate her rich life.