The Magic Money Tree by Kirsty Mackay
During the election, the shame of childhood poverty, the injustice of the two-child benefit cap, and the rise of inequality were brought up many times. But rather than shine a spotlight on them, the children, young people and families actually affected by these political failures remained invisible and unseen. With The Magic Money Tree, Kirsty Mackay gives these people a platform to articulate the reality of poverty and the consequences of 14 years of social welfare decline.
Mackay’s unflinching empathy is abundantly apparent in The Magic Money Tree, but it is a quality that shines through her portfolio, in photography that surprises, challenges and goes far beyond simple documentary.
Mackay was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and grew up in a working-class tenement block. Her neighbourhood was beside a more prosperous district, meaning she saw and experienced social inequality from a young age. The experience stayed with her and informed her 2021 project, The Fish That Never Swam, which considered class, isolation, life expectancy and discrimination in her native city. Meanwhile, with My Favourite Colour Was Yellow, several years before the big screen reinvention of Barbie, Mackay questioned how the colour pink is marketed at young girls.
Mackay’s viewpoint is that poverty in the UK was a political choice inflicted on the most disadvantaged members of society – first with austerity, then with the steady erosion of the welfare state. Realising that opinion alone would make for a one-dimensional project she took a different approach with The Magic Money Tree and involved her subjects as collaborators and participants in the project.
Here, among Mackay’s own startling images are shots taken by children and young people on film cameras given to them by Mackay alongside community workshops. The result is a provocative juxtaposition of heartbreaking deprivation and the innocence and fun of childhood. “Their pictures give it more colour and life,” she says. “My pictures are more serious.” They are often more overtly political too; encouraged to share paintings and topics that mattered to them, the children are also seen carrying homemade placards, articulating anger and rage in a country that has failed them.
Mackay’s unflinching empathy is abundantly apparent in The Magic Money Tree, but it is a quality that shines through her portfolio, in photography that surprises, challenges and goes far beyond simple documentary.
Mackay was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and grew up in a working-class tenement block. Her neighbourhood was beside a more prosperous district, meaning she saw and experienced social inequality from a young age. The experience stayed with her and informed her 2021 project, The Fish That Never Swam, which considered class, isolation, life expectancy and discrimination in her native city. Meanwhile, with My Favourite Colour Was Yellow, several years before the big screen reinvention of Barbie, Mackay questioned how the colour pink is marketed at young girls.
Mackay’s viewpoint is that poverty in the UK was a political choice inflicted on the most disadvantaged members of society – first with austerity, then with the steady erosion of the welfare state. Realising that opinion alone would make for a one-dimensional project she took a different approach with The Magic Money Tree and involved her subjects as collaborators and participants in the project.
Here, among Mackay’s own startling images are shots taken by children and young people on film cameras given to them by Mackay alongside community workshops. The result is a provocative juxtaposition of heartbreaking deprivation and the innocence and fun of childhood. “Their pictures give it more colour and life,” she says. “My pictures are more serious.” They are often more overtly political too; encouraged to share paintings and topics that mattered to them, the children are also seen carrying homemade placards, articulating anger and rage in a country that has failed them.
Year: 2024
Pubisher: Bluecoat Press
ISBN: 9781908457837
Printer: MAS Matbaa
Printing: CMYK
Pages: 200
Images: 120
Paper: Arctic Volume Ivory, Holmen TRND 2.0
Font: Iki Mono Variable
Design Assitant: Safia Mirzai
→ Available here
Pubisher: Bluecoat Press
ISBN: 9781908457837
Printer: MAS Matbaa
Printing: CMYK
Binding: Printed Hardcover with foil
Size: 240x165mmPages: 200
Images: 120
Paper: Arctic Volume Ivory, Holmen TRND 2.0
Font: Iki Mono Variable
Design Assitant: Safia Mirzai
→ Available here
