Exploring My Lockdown Environment

When asked to take and edit photos that relate to my lockdown environment and my identity, I decided to explore both sides with a piece each. Neither of my main ideas actually included pictures of my physical environment however, I decided to take a different approach.

I thought that taking selfies might be a good way to show what I wanted to through my work, but I find taking selfies very hard, I never feel I can get them to look right. I always feel that I look overly tired or ill, so I got very self conscious when I realised I would have to show them to others, when usually pictures I take of myself never see the light of day. I then realised that I could use the fact that I'm self conscious within my work, since it is part of my identity. That is why neither piece shows my entire face- I often prefer not to show it at all if I can. I used to pose for the camera when I was younger all the time, so it was very weird to realise just how much I have changed over the years.

My first piece represents how my lockdown environment has mostly been the sound I surround myself with, rather than physical objects. I have always found it relaxing to simply lose myself within music, even more so than ever during lockdown- it gave me a way to escape. If I hadn't shown this within my work somehow, I wouldn't be doing my insanely long Spotify playlists justice. The bar over my eyes both served as a way to hide part of my face, and to symbolise how when I lose myself within my music, I stop thinking about my own identity; it becomes irrelevant to me.

My second piece was representation of a more visual escape. I have always enjoyed gaming in my spare time, Minecraft being a game that I've returned to again and again over the 8 years I've been playing it. Playing it and creating new appearances for my avatar in game have always been great creative outlets for me, so I suppose it was only natural that it became such a huge part of my lockdown life. I play it on multiple days per week with my best friend, who I can't see in real life due to lockdown, so that we can still stay connected. This gave me the idea to integrate a picture of my avatar into one of my selfies- to show that I am the person behind the pixels she would see on her screen. Both sides of the image are very much my identity, yet fundamentally different.