The Promise of Spring, 2020-2022
“This is going to be a fantastic year for Britain.”
Boris Johnson, New Year message on Twitter, January 1 2020
“I was at a hospital the other night where, there were coronavirus patients
and I shook hands with everybody, and I continue to shake hands.”
Boris Johnson, 3rd March 2020
“From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction –
you must stay at home.”
Boris Johnson, 23rd March 2020
Watching the news from China and Italy, the reports from hospitals and graveyards, showing the despair of the people in February 2020, being told that we are 2 weeks behind the curve, being shown what we were to expect, while life in the UK was still busy, we were blindly keeping calm and carrying on.
The magnolia trees started to bloom; a vision of beauty, nobility, and dignity, new growth and renewal. Days before lockdown, the outbreak in the UK had been doubling in size every three days. However the government press conference shaping the narrative was insisting that the virus was under control. I asked myself how were we supposed to interpret the information, while at the same time we witnessed the fatalities in Italy going up? Finally, measures were taken and the announcement was made of the first lockdown at 8pm on 23rd March 2020. How were we to process the emotional reality of the ongoing disaster? I made notes daily, reflecting on how the crisis had affected me. Aware of the blossom while watching the daily death toll on TV, looking at the graphs but unable to take it in, I did not see anything else. Writing a diary and taking images helped to deal with the contradiction of the threat of the virus and the normality of spring. Rereading my thoughts again in spring 2022 and accessing my own fear more rationally, the constant covid news dominated my thoughts. Often I could not think of anything else, even when looking at the blossom of the magnolia.
The triptych I have created represents the contradiction of the invisible threat of the virus in the beautiful spring.
3 Composite of images with text, 1.20mX1.20m, c-print
details:
Boris Johnson, New Year message on Twitter, January 1 2020
“I was at a hospital the other night where, there were coronavirus patients
and I shook hands with everybody, and I continue to shake hands.”
Boris Johnson, 3rd March 2020
“From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction –
you must stay at home.”
Boris Johnson, 23rd March 2020
Watching the news from China and Italy, the reports from hospitals and graveyards, showing the despair of the people in February 2020, being told that we are 2 weeks behind the curve, being shown what we were to expect, while life in the UK was still busy, we were blindly keeping calm and carrying on.
The magnolia trees started to bloom; a vision of beauty, nobility, and dignity, new growth and renewal. Days before lockdown, the outbreak in the UK had been doubling in size every three days. However the government press conference shaping the narrative was insisting that the virus was under control. I asked myself how were we supposed to interpret the information, while at the same time we witnessed the fatalities in Italy going up? Finally, measures were taken and the announcement was made of the first lockdown at 8pm on 23rd March 2020. How were we to process the emotional reality of the ongoing disaster? I made notes daily, reflecting on how the crisis had affected me. Aware of the blossom while watching the daily death toll on TV, looking at the graphs but unable to take it in, I did not see anything else. Writing a diary and taking images helped to deal with the contradiction of the threat of the virus and the normality of spring. Rereading my thoughts again in spring 2022 and accessing my own fear more rationally, the constant covid news dominated my thoughts. Often I could not think of anything else, even when looking at the blossom of the magnolia.
The triptych I have created represents the contradiction of the invisible threat of the virus in the beautiful spring.
3 Composite of images with text, 1.20mX1.20m, c-print
details:
