Back in March, when the first lockdown kicked in, I found myself slightly at a loss creatively. I’d been making work about ordinary, normal, everyday things - the real mundane stuff of life, that people don’t usually make art about. But suddenly, nothing seemed ordinary or normal any more.
I was very fortunate to be taking part in the year-long Introduction to Arts & Wellbeing course run by the brilliant Artpocket, and while we couldn’t meet in the studio in person, our weekly online meetings really helped me keep my creative practice at the forefront of my mind. I started making work about what everyday life felt like now, exploring my perceptions of time during this strangest of periods.
In April I discovered the Lockdown Residency through a friend on Instagram - an opportunity for artists all over the world to take part in a geographically distant but collective residency, making work in response to lockdown. I got in touch, and was welcomed to take part. Combined with the Artpocket Arts & Wellbeing course, the Lockdown Residency kept my creative practice at the forefront of my mind. The ethos of both the course and the residency provided an un-pressured, open-ended focus that, I am coming to realise, really allows my creativity to thrive. An invitation to experiment, try new ideas, and learn and reflect through the process of making.
It’s probably no surprise that my work started to change during this time. My photography work became more experimental, and I started heavily editing photographs and creating images from many layers - drawn to a sense of play and freedom that was perhaps lacking in ‘real life’. As lockdown began to ease, I started gradually edging further afield for walks, and found experiences that once would have seemed very ordinary to me, like a walk on the beach, had become exceptional and special, and I was becoming more aware of the preciousness of the natural world I had once taken so much for granted.
My work gradually took on a more imaginative quality; while I was still largely focussing on tiny details, I found the emerging work to have a more landscape-like quality, evoking landscapes and seascapes that are quite dreamlike. The power of imagination really started coming to the fore, with my longing for nature, wide open spaces and the sea coming to life through my images. And while the images are recognisable as landscapes or seascapes, there is also something slightly uncanny or surreal about them. To me, this reflected the feeling of emergence into the 'new normal' in the summer of 2020 - feeling things were kind of, almost returning to normal - and yet, there were those constant reminders that it wasn't, not quite.
I really feel this period of time marked a change in direction for me as an artist. The power of imagination, and the preciousness of the natural world were both strong areas of reflection and influences on my work during lockdown in spring-summer this year. This has resonated beyond that time and, I feel, will continue to do so. Creating imagined scenes through layering images is something I am now quite fascinated with, and continuing to explore. Themes of nature connection feel much stronger in my work now, and recent work-in-progress (which I've yet to share widely) is exploring environmental issues which is a new direction for me. It feels exciting and inspiring and I look forward to sharing more of this work soon.
I’m delighted to be taking part in the Lockdown Residency online exhibition, featuring the varied and poignant artworks of 18 artists from all around the world. The exhibition will run until 30th November 2020.
I’m also going to be taking part in an artist talk on Saturday 14th November 2020, 6-8pm GMT. Artist Patricia Bidi will interview fellow artists about personal stories and experiences that emerged in their creative processes during the lockdown period from March to June 2020. Artists will include: Davy Yong, Neus Torres Tamarit, lead exhibition curator Lisa Pettibone, and myself. Hope to see you there!
