Being introduced back into our new ‘norm’
My project follows the last few months in lockdown and my reintroduction back into a normal life.
Prior to lockdown, I was a confident person and enjoyed socializing with friends and family. I would eat out at least three times a week and have playdates with friends on a regular basis. My baking and cooking skills have definitely improved during lockdown. My house was a construction site. Therefore, my family and I had to get used to living with the drilling and banging noises. I am expecting my second child in July and the feelings which have accompanied this have also increased my anxiety and worry about the future. I wanted to share the effects lockdown has had on me and my family, good and bad times, and the precious moments we have shared.
I was inspired by the photographer Carolyn Mendelsohn and her photographic work with children and their experiences in isolation; a simple but effective insight into each individual life.
My love for photography and video has allowed me to capture moments that would have been taken for granted. It has been a way for me to understand my own feelings and I have used my practice as a kind of therapy for my new life in a post lockdown world. My final work developed beyond an original idea, about appearance and social distancing through photomontage, into a self-documentary using my phone to take short video clips of me doing normal things again, such as shopping and eating out with friends. I assembled the images and video clips and added background music.
The final work is a personal and unique journey exploring the visual language of media and photography through still and moving images that offer an insight into my return to a normal life – ‘our new norm’.
