These composite images of surreal cityscapes embody the disquieting experience of how our lives have been transformed by the ravages of COVID-19.
We have retreated from our daily routines and into our homes for an unprecedented period of time. With no end in sight, we rely more than ever on the digital arena for human connection. We can no longer be in densely populated urban spaces, grabbing a coffee with friends or going out to see a film. In response to the isolation, we created these hypnogogic landscapes to reflect upon the experience of roaming inside our smartphones in the time of coronavirus. For many of us, that has become the sole place to process the impact of so much change and loss. When the digital realm is all we have - rather than a supplement to “real life” – for some, the hollowness is more apparent. While we are coming to grips with the fact that isolation is now the key to our survival for the foreseeable future, circumstances beg the question – is this really living? And if we are truly social beings, what will be the impact of riding out a pandemic while gazing at our tiny black mirrors?
Expanding on our work from ALTEREDSTATES/ALTEREDSCAPES, we are again combining photographs from our respective communities and responding to the experience of leaving behind our former lives and participating in a global effort to stop the spread of the virus. Architectural fragments and elements of the landscape are mingled to present diverse psychological experiences of this new world we are living in – such as shock, loneliness, yearning, fear. Unable to go out into the streets, we are paradoxically creating intentional chaos as we seek some kind of order, healing, or catharsis in an increasingly unpredictable world. And we wait in anticipation for the time when it is safe to return to our lives and gather together again.
Images from Together / Apart are available and exhibited exclusively by the Nordic Art Agency gallery.
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