When Covid19 became the reality, and lockdown occurred, I was in shock. Unable to see my friends, walk into a grocery store, or socialize became the new normal that I was not accustomed to. Shock turned to self-pity, then to anger, and now, somehow, I am embracing my solitary time and the quietness.
For the first time since I was a child I wake-up when my body tells me to and go to bed in the same way. I listen to music daily and sometimes find myself dancing alone. Coming back to myself, raw, without all the stuff of life that I thought I needed was. The concern that my toes and nails aren’t polished, or my hair has several inches of grey that is all the outside shell of me, are not that important anymore.
Inside I feel free, free to create as I am able to hear the voice that guides my work. My childlike wonder is now with me.
Out of all this came more conversations with my family and my husband. My husband and I are still talking which has certainly tested all of this togetherness. All this togetherness has tested our relationship …. We have to be creative in finding new way s to be together with our friends. Walking has become a daily routine, with fresh air and an occasional wave to a friend.
I am liking my new practices, without the shoulds, and schedules.
So, when thinking about what home means, it is about shelter, safety, retreat, and. familiarity. I thought about sea creatures, snails, conch, clams, who carry their homes around with them, for safety, retreat, and survival. I decided to upcycle my pinhole images in an interdisciplinary approach of collage bringing in the shell as a metaphor for our homes.
My new body of work is entitled “Shelter in Place.”
I wish you all safety in these uncertain times.
Here is one of my images.
