With this video I wanted to illustrate how over the duration of time coronaviruses been a part of our lives the relationship of how we feel about it is changed and our environment has changed.
I feel like the mask is a real symbol for this because at the start of their whole pandemic it was quite a jarring thing to see a blue mask on the floor or on someone’s face but overtime and the months have passed it’s been normalised. These masks now sit in our streets as much as any other waste which is a harm to the environment which goes on to the other point I’m trying to make through this video is how polluting this has become and a single use mask was never the answer in the first place.
The images are a collection from the entire year of 2020 and I didn’t want to manipulate them I wanted the rawness of what I was seeing in the moment and I’ve tried to visually describe how distorted this is within some of the images having lines that I could have framed or completely straight but haven’t to sort of echo how distorted the real world seems at the moment.
I’ve also used my creative licence within the video by putting the more gruesome-looking masks which have adapted to each new environment more at the end of the sequence to emulate the idea of the passing of time and how now is very normal to see these within the world around us as opposed to the very striking brand new masks that could have been seen on the floor in March 2020.
For this image I shot on the Pentax k1000 and used colour film to photograph a self-portrait of myself on in the streets of Manchester using 35-millimetre colour film taken the image had it printed and use the wheat-based paste to put up a legal graffiti wall in the same area of Manchester. The reason I use a self-portrait was because at the time I had skinhead as many other young men had over Lockdown which points towards this time period. It also references British youth working class culture. Music genres like reggae, Northern Soul, Ska and 2 tone where all originally associated with the look of skinheads culture before a certain group spoiled it for everyone but we won’t go there.
The paint across the mouth is referencing blue single use surgical mask which is very much a symbol of the time we are living in. This also has a double meaning of how history is repeating itself and northern working-class voices are being silenced throughout the pandemic. The mayor of Manchester pushed back was made to submit to the government while people suffered the economic repercussions of the current climate without receiving enough support. Which has only reopened old wounds of the North-South divide in Great Britain.
In this image I’ve referenced Henri Cartier-Bresson’s style of street photography as I lined up my frame and waited for this split moment to happen before pressing the trigger. Again I’ve tried to use the symbols which I keep playing on through the project and really set this in a moment in time which will be looked back on.
Seen all too common for central Manchester a ‘spice head’ passed out at a Metrolink stop, Officer breaking covid restrictions to place a hand of care on another human being suffering.
I really enjoy the atmosphere of this image with the musky grubby steamed up glass the crude joke in the window and the coronavirus notice referencing they may be shut down because of restrictions in a very cheek and tongue manner. Which shows a little bit of the essence of character found in the city of Manchester.
This image can be seen in a very literal sense of how all the rubbish that hasn’t been collected as much over the pandemic creates a ‘shit show’ in the streets but also I’ve used my visual language to convey my opinion on how this time period has been dealt with.
It’s an outside shot but has a glimpse into an inside context.
Through this image, I’ve tried to portray a literal sign of the times. As it is a sign that would only be found within this worldwide historic event of coronavirus. Through documenting this and using the red tones through the image that I wanted to add more context to this image and that was to convey danger and the danger for me is too strong opposing opinions which creates divide through people. This can be seen through the context of the street sign and wanting to oppose something and offend instead of uniting and understanding. I think it would be interesting to see the context that people bring to this image using it to inform their opinion of me the artist and what they feel I was trying to convey through this image.