Go Your Own Way
Publication: Sunday Magazine | Date: 3 March 2020
Photographer Jessie Casson defines her style with bold colours, vintage items, and family hand-me-downs. She always wears trainers. The UK-born 44-year-old lives in Auckland with her husband, Matt, and kids Dylan, 14, Otis, 9, and Iris, 7. The family recently spent four months travelling around Latin America, tracking down people Casson photographed almost two decades ago, to learn about their lives now and show them the photographs she took of their younger selves. A film of the journey, What Becomes of Me, is in post production.
I like to be a little bit extravagant. And I don’t want to look like everybody else. At the school drop-off, a mother once told me I was the best dressed woman in Pt Chev! I think it's more in my latter years I’ve gone a bit more against the grain, probably since I had kids. I care less about what people think; I don't feel I need to fit in.
I have my granny’s handbags, shoes, and my mum's dresses… My mother-in-law is knitting me a jumper at the moment. My mum’s not alive anymore, and when my dad said to me: “Do you want these two dresses of hers?” I was like: “Yeah!” He sent them over. She didn’t have a lot of clothes, she just had this wardrobe of really special pieces.
If I’m going to photograph someone who’s in a suit, you want to dress in a comparable way. If I’m going to photograph Jacinda and I’m part of the press, I want to blend in; I definitely dress down. If I’m going to photograph a creative. I have sometimes taken my clothes off and given them to people to wear for the shoot – we’ve done a clothes swap. (I would never enforce that on someone!)
When I was packing for the trip, I did have a bit of a colour scheme, which is a little bit embarrassing… Yellow, blue, white, grey. We only had four outfits each. I probably had five.
Favourite label: Ingrid Starnes
Most expensive mistake: My son, then three, and I were going through Hong Kong and I needed a handbag. I thought I’d just get one at the airport. I was in a bit of a rush and found one that was NZ$230. It was the top end of what I’d pay, but I hadn’t had a new handbag for a long time. I bought it. I got to the departure lounge and looked again at the receipt. I went: “Ohs... That’s not $230, it’s $2300” The plane wasn’t boarding for another 15 minutes. I said: “Dylan. We're getting the hell back to that shop.”
Three items you can’t go wrong with: Vintage dress, white trainers and fishnets.
Rosa from Isla Tequille, Peru. In 2003 her dream was to keep knitting and grow good potatoes and maize. Jessie Casson hopes to ask Rosa how her dreams turned out.
Casson also wants to show her children what life looks like outside New Zealand.
“New Zealand is a very safe haven. And I kind of want to hold their hand and show them what adventure looks like. And create memories as a family because we could stay here for four months and you don't remember anything.”
Instead, they will be spending they Christmas in Mexico at a local family home, bonding over memories she hoped would last a lifetime.
“It's very hard to imagine as a child what life looks like outside of your own reality but they talk about it a lot.”
There will be challenges and obstacles but there will also be rewarding experiences that Casson hopes her children will learn from.
Though the children will be out of school for four months Casson says they will still do basic reading, writing and maths while travelling.
Noel from Tupiza, Bolivia, a horse guide in 2003. His dream was to work with horses for the rest of his life but his father wanted him to be a teacher.
They will travel with a dedicated camera operator who also, helpfully speaks Spanish and Casson is confident the family will be safe.
When I travelled there the first time I remember thinking I feel very safe and I would love to bring a family back here if we ever had one.
“I like to push myself out of my comfort zone and I hope our trek will inspire other people to do that, and you don't have to go halfway across the world to do that – you can do that in your own suburb.”
The family leaves in two weeks and will stay in hostels, backpacker accommodation and homestays throughout the trip, visiting cities and remote towns.
Casson has already tracked down 11 of the 26 teenagers, some of whom she only had a first name for.
She said one of the subjects cried when she sent him the photograph taken of him in 2003 because he did not own any photos of himself from that age.
Casson says the unknown is daunting but she is focused on being able to tell as many as possible of the teenagers' stories about how their lives have turned out.
Osman of Nicaragua. In 2003 he wanted to be a professional American footballer. Casson wants to know if he has realised his dream?