During the pandemic I was confined with my husband and my daughter at our home in a small 54m² apartment in eastern Paris, France. The authorities gave us permission to go out 1h per day and at most 1 km away from our home address. Starting on March 17th, 2020, I have been taking photographs almost every day only inside my home without any preconceived plan allowing the process to develop over time.
My decision to take photographs at my home during the covid 19 pandemic was completely spontaneous. I didn’t think that it would influence me artistically in any big way because I usually work within my immediate surroundings, be it taking photos of my family, friends, my twin sister or my daughter
A month later, I realized that the urge to start this photo challenge came out of the need to easier live through the pandemic by focusing on creation. It’s the exact same tendency that emerged during the NATO bombing in 1999 in Serbia when I took photos that didn’t have any relation to the existing situation. Creation was the principle coping mechanism, the remedy that treated the symptoms like fear, powerlessness and incapacity to change the situation that I found myself in. So I dutifully showed up each day to take photos and each day post one on Facebook and Instagram.
The difference this time around is that my photographs from the series 54m2 are directly related to the current situation. The new approach that set up, which is not knowing what the series would look like at the end and where the project will end is part of the excitement this time around.
Image 1 of 36 is included in ICP photo exhibition “#ICPConcerned: GLOBAL IMAGES FOR GLOBAL CRISIS“, International Center of Photography in New York, curated by ICP team and David Campany.
You can listen to my audio statement here.