how close is too close?
The start of the pandemic in 2020 challenged our ways to communicate and stay connected. Even though we live in a hyper-connected society where everything seems available, real reality turned into a real panic fest. Face-to-face was not a possibility, human connection was under attack.
Humans always find ways to adapt and replicate what’s familiar into new scenarios. Desperate for connection, video calls became popular, traditional calls were a thing again (eek), Tik Tok exploded (dancing seemed like a pain-free coping mechanism), people were loving Whatsapp family groups (just for a bit though), and the creation of digital art took an interesting twist accelerating innovation in all fields.
“How close is too close? A question we were all asking ourselves during the early stages of the pandemic. How close can we get to strangers now? The lines between personal and professional were blurred. Our computers and phones importance became even more elevated. Our only means of connection. But where does privacy start and end? ”
At the peak of the pandemic, I asked my longtime collaborator and podcast co-host Claire, to let ourselves go and create some sort of digital abstract-reality portraits. We both logged in on Zoom, I took my Canon camera out and we created what the kids call nowdays a vibe.
This particular historic moment took away from us some real opportunities for creation, but at the same time, enabled us to explore and play in different directions. We were lucky enough to be healthy and with everything needed at our disposition, both able to dig deeper into our emotions and our reality bubble.
First few minutes were tense, we both wondered what were doing but confident enough to keep pushing. Soon enough we started to get into the flow. What happened that help us? Probably this hunger for creation or just the idea of there’s nothing else to do anyway.
This outcome was an elevated version of what I envisioned. We had something going on that helped us stay connected and creative in such wild context. Some of the photos inspired me to create collages (sorry Claire to deform your face) taking this experiment to a new level of digital abstraction.
“Creating a shoot via a webcam was a new experience. Initially, I felt uncomfortable posing, I was unsure about how to position my body, how close to get to my computer, and how to work with Enzo with the barrier of the screen between us- but we soon got into a flow. Using props such as the wine glass (why not) helped. I think ultimately we both had to embrace the separation between us and I love the added dimension that this gave to the images.”
“To me, this shoot reflects the feelings that arose in lockdown- uncomfortable, suffocating, warped, intense. But of course, as always, Enzo and I had the best time creating this shoot and I can’t wait for our next one.”
