Seeing 2020: PHOTOGRAPHY UNDER QUARANTINE 
Issue 142

Organized by Jennifer Thoreson
Juried by Ann Pallesen
Foreword by Rebekah Bellum

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In 2020, the air feels different, like we’re living in a thick fog, collectively unable to see what lies around the next bend. No one has been untouched by the precariousness of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. For many, this time has meant uncertainty in terms of steady income, childcare, education, concern for loved ones, and well-being. Despite significant challenges, there have also been moments of sweet connection; renewals of long dormant friendships; a chance for rootedness in family and place; acts of community engagement, support, and activism; and great sparks of creativity. In March 2020, as many faced considerable changes to the normal rhythms of life, Jennifer Thoreson created the Photography Under Quarantine Facebook group – a beautiful manifestation of a rich artistic community. 

Simultaneously outwardly and inwardly focused, the group proposes that, in a time when many are physically separated, artists can join together virtually to introduce more beauty in the world. It seeks to uncover complex, creative responses to new and unfamiliar constraints, and gives space for artists to be inspired by one another. In the group, the artists critically engage with the thoughtful, relevant, and thought-provoking topics set forth each week. The weekly themes challenge the artists to contemplate the time in which we are now living, asking what the current circumstances mean for those things each artist holds most dear – for relationships, faith, connections with others, and the process of creating itself. 

Many of the artists adopted new practices and methods of working in response to the group’s stipulation that all aspects of the photographs submitted were to be completely new creations crafted during the week of the challenge, while maintaining all social distancing and sheltering in place rules. This constraint on the creative process led artists to imagine their physical spaces and the things they owned in novel ways. Some artists handmade physical objects to include in their photographs. Many artists used themselves and their families as models in their images, adding layers of meaning to their personal conceptualization of the themes. Artists who had previously created a library of stock images to digitally edit into their works created a new collection, created solely from their quarantine environment. From these parameters, artists generated rich images and visual articulations, ranging from whimsical and playful pieces, to deeply personal works that convey pain, hope, fear, and love.

Almost 600 members have contributed unique, beautiful images to the group’s challenges that show a variety of perspectives, subjects, processes, and artistic styles. Along with each image, the artists have taken time to tell their story –of their process, of their thematic conceptualization, and of their personal inspiration for the work. The stories shared range from fun, light hearted observations of the world, to experiences of true grief that convey the artist’s sense of loss, longing, or anxiety. In sharing personal stories, the members have given not only the products of their creation, but also their vulnerability to the group. The gravity of such freely shared vulnerability is reflected through the community feedback given on the individual works. Overwhelmingly, the members respond with great insight, kindness, and respect of each personal story, building one another up through true study of each other’s work, and words of constructive criticism and support. 

The Photography Under Quarantine Facebook group became a genuine community, bonded through a shared love of creating, critically engaging with different conceptual themes and constraints, and collectively working to make and see more beauty. The members have created separately, but have worked together toward a unified goal, investing in one another, and building one another up. In a time when most are sheltering in place, and unable to physically gather, this group has encouraged new ways of joining people together, many of whom were strangers to one another at the start. Through the fog of 2020, the Photography Under Quarantine group has captured moments of clarity that express conviction, understanding, challenge, and hope.