A Rare Look At Models With Their Mothers

Morwenna Lytton Cobbold, former Burberry model, photographer and DJ, will open a new exhibition of photographs capturing models with their mothers in London later next month. The showcase will raise money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer, with all pictures available to buy.

The display, held at The Gilbert Scott Restaurant from October 1 until October 31, initially began as a private project, consisting of portraits of fashion models with their mothers: "I travelled to their homes, removing the sitters from the conventional big fashion shoot set up. Having worked and travelled around the world as a model myself since I was 16 years old, the importance of time at home with family has become increasingly apparent."

Models With Their Mothers

The photographs, shot on medium-format film with a Mamiya RZ Pro II camera, are warm and personal, capturing the rare moments when models return home to relax with their families. Cobbold - who will DJ at Manchester's LK Bennett store at Fashion´s Night Out next month - explained that she wanted to document family dynamics through portraiture: "Coming from a world of high-production, large-scale fashion shoots, for my personal work I wanted to strip back all the artificiality and styling and make my images more about the people in them. I asked the sitters to wear their own clothes, do their own hair and make-up, and to arrive alone at their homes to create an intimate and personal portrait, a side of the sitters rarely seen."

Despite a career in modelling, Cobbold explains that she has always taken photographs: "My mum gave me her Eighties Nikon FE2 camera, which I learnt all the basics on. It began my love of shooting film, and I built a darkroom in our old bike shed at home." To accompany the exhibition, her photographs will be published in a book, Mother, to fundraise for Breakthrough Breast Cancer, a charity chosen by the model after being an ambassador for the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign.

Models & Mothers: An Exhibition in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer will be on display at The Gilbert Scott Restaurant and Bar from October 1 - October 31