Self isolation thoughts. (And Pictures).
I’ve always kept a journal. Sometimes daily, sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly. I don’t have a method or any restrictions or requirements, only that when I’m not journalling, I feel like I should be. I write to process emotions and experiences, and so usually when the words flow freely, it’s because I’m feeling unbalanced or overwhelmed and when things are good (or simply just ‘busy’), the words do not flow at all.
So now I’m finding, during what has unofficially been dubbed a ‘strange time’, I’m journaling in a different way. Through images. This is not to say that I am no longer writing in my notebook when I get the urge, but my newfound visual journal is something I’ve been sharing publicly.
#covidportraitproject is a self portrait project I started on my first day of self isolating. I was previously touring Shakespeare to high school students across Victoria, and like so many, the sudden nothing-ness came as quite a shock. I don’t mind a bit of positive reinforcement when it comes my way and I’m certainly more aware of my vanity now than I was before. But I didn’t expect such a glowing reception from my fans (mum) as the photos continued to roll out.
Early in the piece, I had an idea to recreate iconic movie moments. So I did. And then I recreated The Spice Girls, Albert Einstein, the Mona Lisa- you know, all the obvious ones. It’s not so much a documentation of my mindset during this pandemic, but more a continuous creative output, a practise, a ritual. Some are better than others, there’s no doubt about that. Some are obscure, some are ugly, some are flawed and some are lazy, but they exist now and they didn’t before. And that is something I’m proud of.
I have just arrived at Day 50, and while I don’t think I’ve ever journaled for 50 days straight, this is one habit I’m keen to keep up. Stay tuned for the next 50.
Thanks for reading,
Sarah <3