2020 was a year of major upheaval. The Covid-19 pandemic, political unrest, and civil rights disputes resulted in a fracturing of society. All common ground and touchstones began to crumble. New phrases were added to our pandemic lexicon. Work-life and home-life were now messily intertwined as “work from home”. Even the word normal was being replaced by the phrase the “new normal”. A phrase which stood in contrast to all that was familiar. Newly single, and living alone, I found myself especially isolated in this new world.
This work illustrates five ways in which I was able to feel a sense of community while remaining so physically removed from others. A series of fifteen images depict the following comforts; music, literature, video games, family, and photography. These fifteen images combine to form five triptychs. Each triptych creates a complete sofa. Images from each category are represented once in each of the three locations of the sofa with no two images originating from the same shoot. The intended affect is a sense of disorder and the passage of time.
All images were created in my living room using my sofa, my cats, and my personal items. One strobe light with reflective umbrella, a ring light, and ambient overhead lights were utilized. Both butterfly and loop lighting provided slight shadows on the subjects while keeping the underneath of the sofa in shadow. The result is a more candid, “home photo” appearance. The ring light was used as a fill light while the strobe served as the key light. The cameras self-timer function was used for all self-portraits.
