A Selection of thoughts and creativity during Lockdown
I thought it would be helpful to note down my personal accounts to study during the ‘stay at home’ phase of the COVID19 crisis. which undoubtedly hampers the practical elements of my work, and yet the opportunity to think (although not without difficulty at times) provides both an expanding and consolidation of direction.
To sustain momentum along with other OCA students there commenced a collaboration of work designed to express creative thoughts during the lockdown. From my own perspective having spent much time homeschooling with my 8 year old daughter, an idea took shape that was worth exploring.
An idea that stemmed from listening to the rhetoric from Media and Government in relation to the pandemic provided an opportunity to display the language into something visually descriptive. Phrases that referrer to WW2 were becoming more apparent and in my mind, rather alarming. If this was to be portrayed as an enemy, it was an enemy that needed we needed to be protected from rather than the ‘gun ho’ suggestion of confrontational words such as ‘Take it on the chin’, ‘Blitz Spirit’. I found this language bizarre. What would language this look like visually in context to the current crisis?
The concept provided much scope as I viewed the effects of loneliness during the Lock down. How would war time rhetoric be visualised in such circumstances?. I found the 1940’s mantra’s unhelpful and thought of ways to represent the elderly, living alone whilst being fed uplifting messages designed for comradeship and togetherness rather than isolation and reclusiveness.
I created a number of these staged dolls house representations and captured via an ipad (two methods I would never usually entertain, particularly the staging). This prompted further thought and possibilities that I would have not previously considered.
The Group thought the work was inventive and displayed elements of dark humour that provided insight into my thought processes via the vehicle of an idea initially sprung from my 8 year old daughter.
‘During Moments of Crisis, its always the poor who get clobbered’. Don McCullin
The quote from Don McCullin has stayed with me for a few years now. I watched him say those words during the film about his life. The observations he made related to conflict mainly. however, the mantra resonated with me and could certainly be used in most cases of national crisis. It was certainly the case during the financial crash of 2008 and current predictions assume that the ‘clobbering’ that is coming for those with no or little savings is going to escalate into extremely dangourous territory
With a background of over repeated media (which is difficult and almost impossible for me to turn off) the focus of my concern directs focus towards those who in greatest need and their present plight. Not knowing how this will end and pan out for those with no savings, uncertain prospects and little support forces an increased uncertainty. Prior to the Pandemic, my understanding of the current social imbalance situation provided a determined and forthright personal response. I could witness and experience the level of poverty being tackled by charities who were being stretched to handle the ever increasing situation. With the anticipated exploitation of developing hardship across the UK and Europe, how would this be understood, given the widening of social imbalance prior to March 2020.
The thoughts I have provide a determined, if not slightly protracted desire to maintain my focus on the very reason to photograph the way I choose. By directing my thoughts through the prism of Social inequality into the wider context of the current crisis, I find that the anguish that I had previously, is now reaching a new trajectory of concern. How this could be explored visually, is not something that I can comprehend at this moment in time, although I find that by reading, researching and noting my thoughts, a joint level of understanding, assistance and visual meaning could arise.
Gerard Hilderly Level 3 OCA 