I have effectively stopped taking photographs of people on the street. This is partly because there is a lot less of them around at the moment. The streets are currently utterly and eerily desolate. I keep expecting to see either tumbleweed or a lone zombie dragging its heels down the high street. We are in a lockdown so it’s to be expected.
And yet, it isn’t just that. I have also lost the inclination. When Covid first landed I began to compulsively capture the masked masses and the queues and felt it was important to show this transformed world and try to make sense of it. Now almost a year later that desire to document them has waned. I, like everyone else, have pandemic fatigue. Not only do I no longer feel the urge but I figure the last thing anyone wants right now as they try to go about their business in this era of restricted & relatively grim living is to have some bloke point a camera in their not very visible face.
And I think it’s also the fact that the only bit of people’s faces I can see are their anxious little eyes popping out over a bit of fabric. In the past I have always been drawn to capturing characterful faces. I am fascinated by the unique configurations of people’s features. Everyone looks a little bit like someone but no-one looks exactly the same as anyone. Not even identical twins. And even though the eyes tell all, it’s not enough. One facial feature is like a song. I want to hear the album. It’s frustrating to only get part of the story. It has also occurred to me that if your eyes are your best feature this is a good time for you. If its your nose or your mouth, less so…
And so, as a consequence of this facial feature free existence I have gone back to photographing inanimate objects. But the irony is I am still sorta chasing faces, it’s just these ones are drawn or sewn on. I once did an entire exhibition called ‘Stuff n Stuff’ which focussed exclusively on toys (cuddly and otherwise) that I encountered on my travels. Mostly discarded on the streets. They all seemed to speak to me, trapped in their lifeless existences, yearning to escape…hmm, that’s starting to sound strangely familiar…and I guess mebbe that is why my gaze has returned to them.
If you wish to see more of this ilk below is a little gallery of some of the shots from the aforementioned exhibition.