Self Portraits in ISO - photographic series

Background: The research investigated notions of immobilities and identity within the covid-19 pandemic landscape through an applied a photographic self-portraiture practice. In Kerilyn Schewel’s essay ‘Understanding Immobility: Moving Beyond the Mobility Bias in Migration Studies’ she presents the argument that immobility is valuable as part of understanding migration studies, and how we define our relation to space. This work is situated within a dynamic field of isolation self-portraits curated online and on social media including This Immediate Life, Ballarat International Foto Biennale #massisolationproject, Girls of Isolation. The project provided a creative self-portraiture exploration of identity that examines how the effects of immobility affected notions of self. Contribution: This artwork examined the politics of everyday mobilities, and how one’s identity is reconfigured when the restriction of movement, and the reconfiguring of ‘home’ spaces becomes acute. Created during the covid-19 pandemic in Victoria, a place that had one of the longest lockdown periods in 2020-21, these self-portraits reference both the trauma and privilege to stay ‘safe in place’. Using the performative body, and domestic space, the images created new patterns of micro-mobility, while ‘normal’ mobilities outside of the home were restricted. Within these new micro-mobility journeys, a refiguring of identity is expressed. This work contributes to a long history in self-portraits, as well as an insight into the current socio-cultural landscape. Significance: The artwork was selected as part of the Im|mobile Lives in Turbulent Times virtual conference and art exhibition, Northumbria University UK by curators Kaya Barry and Jen Southern, presented as a live exhibition, with upcoming publication. In addition, the series was curated in the online magazine by the editors of Jane By the Grey, as well as the Ballarat International Foto Biennale #massisolationproject 2020 online exhibition.