My mother, Ann Seth, who has died aged 90, worked for decades as an English and history teacher before she decided to develop her interest in art instead. In 1981 she enrolled for a second degree in visual studies at Oxford Polytechnic, where she became hooked on photography.
She went on to exhibit a series of multimedia installations, using innovative methods such as infrared film and stereoscopy. On one occasion in the mid-1980s she took over the former St Paul’s church in Jericho, Oxford (now known as Freud’s cafe) filling it with triptychs, sculpture and abstract photography.
Her artistic interests turned increasingly towards landscape photography. In the early 2000s she was commissioned by Oxfordshire county council to document the beautiful countryside across the south of the county. This was one of her favourite jobs, allowing her to spend time at White Horse Hill near Uffington, one of her most beloved places.
Ann was born in York and grew up as bombs fell on the wartime city. Her father, Fred Delaney, an Irish immigrant who dreamed of becoming a professional footballer, was called up at the start of the second world war, and was among the thousands of servicemen listed missing in the sinking of the RMS Lancastria troopship in 1940. He never returned. Ann, an only child, was brought up by her mother, Edith (nee Glenn), who scraped a living doing clerical work around York.
Home life was lonely, but Ann loved school and she especially loved books, devouring five each week from York’s library. Encouraged by her headteacher at the Bar Convent school, she applied to university, the first in her family to do so. In 1953 she arrived to study English literature at Sheffield, where she met Bhola Seth, a young Indian engineer studying for a PhD. They married in 1960, a time when mixed marriages were rare.
After graduating, Ann and Seth (as he was always known) moved first to Tyneside, where Ann taught at Blyth grammar school, and then in 1962 they arrived in Oxfordshire, where they remained for the rest of their lives. Seth worked at the Esso Research Centre near Abingdon, while Ann taught history at a secondary school in Didcot. Her social life revolved around sport – badminton and tennis – and theatre, which remained one of Ann’s great loves. They also made frequent trips to the Lake District, where Ann slowly introduced Seth to the joys of fell-walking.
The couple continued to visit the Lakes throughout their marriage, climbing 70 separate “Wainwrights” in Ann’s 70th year.
After Seth died in 2013, Ann spent more time in and around her home village of Letcombe Regis, where she became increasingly active in Green party politics. As her health began to fail, her village walks became shorter and she eventually settled for excursions around her back garden, walking determinedly up and down the lawn (“doing the rounds”), and sitting under the old apple tree. The dedication of her long-term carer, Lynette, enabled her to remain at home until the end of her life.
She is survived by me.
