‘The Estate’ by Marnie Haddad opens with Fletcher.

Fletcher: There is a strong focus on relationships with interior spaces in The Estate…

Marnie: What draws me to the experience of the home environment is a very personal one – one that is me, one that has shaped me. I want to capture a moment in time, a freeze frame that can be both comfortable and intriguing, urging us in.

Fletcher: How have the Hitchcock films Marnie and Rebecca influenced your work and your thinking?

Marnie: Although Hitchcock is famous for intrigue, to me they are wonderful love stories wrapped in the guise of mystery- the unwavering devotion from the male lead is so romantic. In Marnie, her husbands quest to delve back into her past to unravel the pain, and in Rebecca, the belief that her husband will love his deceased wife forever when quite the opposite is true.

Fletcher: There is a strong sense of opulence, the ornate and strangeness in your work, are these very conscious and deliberate traits?

Marnie: I am drawn to the visual opulence of floral arrangements, candles, chandeliers and colour so yes that is very deliberate, creating the lush setting for the viewer to decipher the narrative. My quest is not to simply replicate scenes from another era, it is to create contemporary images, timeless, that reflect a feeling or a memory.

Fletcher: The Estate is quite feminine and floral compared to your previous show which was more dark and androgynous, can you tell us about this shift?

Marnie: I have been inspired by the palette of technicolour movies which immediately lightens the mood from the more sombre images, heavier palette I have photographed. My ‘Max de Winter’ series echoed the fear of Rebecca lost in anew environment trying to find her way. The subjects in ’The Estate’ appear very much more at home in the opulence, celebrating the environment.