LOCKDOWN Diary
LOCKDOWN Diary
In spring 2020 France, like many other countries, went into lockdown.
My personal way of coping with this has been to keep a photographic diary of my lockdown. It obliged me to do a daily exercise: one (possibly good) picture everyday, shot only within my house or my garden. It helped me stay sane throughout this period
Day 1. The ceiling in Margherita and Arturo's bedroom. 14/03/2020
Day 2. The joys of having a garden. 15/03/2020
Day 3. Le margherite di Margherita (= Daisy's daisies). 16/03/2020.
Day 4. The flowers and the wall. I thank the garden. 17/03/2020
Day 5. Ivy and light at the window. 18/03/2020
Day 6. I realise I am mostly photographing plants. 19/03/2020
Day 7. After all tomorrow is another day. 20/03/2020
Day 8. Is finding poetry in the staircase leading to the basement sign that something's not right? 21/03/2020
Day 9. A pause from plants, I go back to my obsession for doors and windows, that now more than ever invite us to an elsewhere that is out of reach. I usually look for perfect symmetry in my images. I shot this picture at least five times, but some line or other is never right. I decided to accept it like this, with crooked lines. 22/03/2020
Day 10. This avocado plant exactly reflects how I feel: in difficulty, but not too much. 23/03/2020
Day 11. Staircase and light. 24/03/2020
Day 12. I don't know why I am so fascinated by the basement these days. 25/03/2020
Day 13. Today is my birthday. A gift: the sunshine, the light, the trees in front of my window. It could have been worse. 26/03/2020
Day 14. Today I did not even put the point of my nose outside the window. I listen to Cocteau Twins. 27/03/2020
Day 15. The chair playing Hide and seek. 28/03/2020
Day 16. White on white. 29/03/2020
Day 17. Self-portrait in the steam. 30/03/2020
Day 18. The light that comes in, no matter what. 31/03/2020
Day 19. Self-portrait, or exercise with light and skin. 01/04/2020
Day 20. To have the mood that goes up and down, like if it was taking the stairs. 02/04/2020
Day 21. The lockdown is also the moment to for photographic exercises. And going back to self-portraits after 10 years. Exercise of the day: self-portrait thinking about Jessica Todd Harper. 03/04/2020
Day 22. The shadow of a sunset in spring. 04/04/2020
Day 23. The light in the afternoon is too beautiful not to play with it a little bit. 05/04/2020
Day 24. Tedium. As Pessoa used to define it. 06/04/2020
Day 24. Self-portrait from behind, thinking that the days are starting to be all the same. After the first weeks trying to "do" no matter what, I would like to push the button pause. 07/04/2020
Day 25. Photographic exercise of the day: trying to hide. Or to self-erase. 08/04/2020
Day 27. Going up. 09/04/2020
Day 28. From today's pictures I chose the less perfect. Because truer. 10/04/2020
Day 29. Front. I am trying not to think. 11/04/2020
Day 30. Going back to self-portraits have been troubling for me. I realise I can only photograph myself in little bits and never look at myself in the face. When I look at my face I feel like I do not recognise myself. So, today's exercise: photographing my face (brutally). 12/04/2020
Day 31. Like an old and crinkled apple. 13/04/2020
Day 32. Half. 13/04/2020
Day 33. Blue sky, the light before twilight. 15/04/2020
Day 34. Triangles of light. 16/04/2020
Day 35. Playing with the curtains. 17/04/2020
Day 36. The sea from the window. 18/04/2020
Day 37. Dreams of flight. 19/04/2020
Day 38. Kissed by the sun. 20/04/2020
Day 39. Some details to cling to, some moments of light. 21/04/2020
Day 40. Literally speaking, quarantine is over. Everything is starting to repeat itself. Even photos. 22/04/2020
Day 41. Hidden self-portrait. 23/04/2020
Day 42. Playing with the other curtains. 24/04/2020
Day 43. Self-portrait with profile in the shadow and light in the eyes. 25/04/2020
Day 44. Light and shadow, like every other day. 26/04/2020
Day 45. The sky before the storm. 27/04/2020
Day 46. Like snow. 28/04/2020
Day 47. The effort. 29/04/2020
Day 48. I don't know what I am looking for, but I keep looking. 30/04/2020
Day 49. Me, the jacket, the 3 hands. 01/05/2020
Day 50. I am definitively in a "hands" phase. 02/05/2020
Day 51. Exercise with light and gestures. Goosebump. 03/05/2020
Day 52. Calves. 04/05/2020
Day 53. Looking for new ways of hiding. And thinking about Man Ray. 05/05/2020
Day 54. Double profile. 06/05/2020
Day 55. Complementary. 07/05/2020
Day 56. Looking for new combinations. 08/05/2020
Day 57. Shadows like rayographs. 09/05/2020