My life: Jo Farrell
The British photographer talks to Angharad Hampshire about documenting the last women in China with bound feet
GROWING UP AROUND STARS My father, Sir Terry Farrell, is one of Britain’s best-known architects. He designed Charing Cross Station, the MI6 (headquarters building) and the Home Office, in London, and the Peak Tower and Kowloon Station, in Hong Kong. My mum, Rosie, was a home economics teacher. My parents split up when I was two and my mother moved to Ipswich, in Suffolk (England), and opened her own restaurant, Rosie’s Place. As a Michelin-starred restaurant, it was very popular and busy. Every Monday night, we went out to dine at another restaurant so my mum and stepdad didn’t have to cook. My sister and I would be hushed because they were always listening to other diners’ comments on the food.
ZA ZA ZOOM As a teenager, I used to love watching the Sunday matinees of old 40s, 50s and 60s movies. All that wonderful cinematography! In films like The Third Man and Citizen Kane, the light, shadow and atmosphere put you on the edge of your seat. I was mesmerised by film noir; it started my love affair with photography. I was always the child in the family with a camera taking photos of people from weird angles. When I was 14, my dad bought me a subscription to Zoom Magazine, an A3-sized publication of full-page images. I must have had an aspiration to be a photographer at that point without fully knowing it.
HK FOR THE FIRST TIME When I was 20, I got a job with an art publisher doing layout, design and writing. It gave me a lot of confidence to try new things.
Then in 1992, my dad won the competition to design the Peak Tower and asked me to come and help with logistics. I’d just come to the end of a relationship and jumped at the chance. I loved Hong Kong and didn’t want to leave, but after four months my post ended.
CAPITAL GAINS Soon afterwards, I moved to San Francisco, where my mother had been living. In 1998, I came back to work in Hong Kong for two years and travelled to Beijing on a dirt-cheap Chinese tour, as the only English speaker.
I shared a room with the tour guide but each morning went off to do my thing, which stunned her somewhat. I took loads of photos of hutongs condemned for demolition. I felt so alive. Later, I went to Lhasa and travelled overland to Nepal with a backpack filled with camera film.