Over the past few weeks, citizens and communities around the globe have entered a new world order. A microscopic organism has shattered our global existence. Few of us were truly conscious of how fragile our societies had become. Markets have crashed, millions have become unemployed overnight, a few businesses thrive while others struggle to keep their doors open. The ugliness of our humanness has been brought into sharp focus with panic buying and stock piling of essentials and price gouging; contrasted by the tragic scenes of medical staff desperately fighting to treat the infected with limited resources. In these past weeks words like "self-isolation", "social distancing", "corona virus", "Covid-19", "flattening the curve" have become part of our every day language and understanding. This is an unprecedented global event. Everyone has already been affected to some degree, some of us have been infected, some of us will remain healthy, and some of us will die. Over the next few months while we grapple with a new world order we will be changed as individuals, as communities, as countries and as a species.
As countries around the world bunker down, enforcing self-isolation of their citizens, the irony does not escape me that I bring this website out of hibernation to commence a visual diary of the days to come. Around 12 years ago, photography became my new world. Originally it was a way to deal with some significant changes in my personal life and morphed into my way to make a living and to support myself and my family. Over those years there have been several occasions where I have used photographs to journal my personal and business life. The last self indulgent project was Flying Solo, a project I did not complete in its entirety, but at the time was important to me to share the trials and tribulations and successes of being a sole trader with my own photography business while dealing with a chronic illness (Multiple Sclerosis) and heartache.
I realised today that those visual journals and projects of the past helped me to maintain a sense of balance and well being. They got me through some incredibly life changing moments. I started my exploration into photography, photographing toys so that the toys could tell my story. Today, I am starting a new project - Hibernation 101 - and to honour the past traditions, I will tell this unfolding story with toys.
For many years now, I have worked from home. I have a dedicated studio space at home. Being a sole trader by business and a freelance photographer by trade, I am used to, for the most part working alone and spending large portions of my day alone. I actually feel a lot of gratitude for those years preparing me for this time of socially required self-isolation. I know many people may have emotional, mental and physical difficulties in self-isolating. There will be moments of cabin fever. However, spending time alone and having to eliminate the bustle of "normal everyday life" can create a space for amazing things to happen. My MS has given me many opportunities to learn from periods of hibernation. It is for this very reason that I chose to call this project Hibernation 101.
In nature, hibernation is an adaptation to survive a period of scarce resources. I am fascinated by the process of hibernation, a time of stillness, a time for rejuvenation, a time for waiting until circumstances improve. Thinking about this next period of time as hibernation rather than self-isolation makes me feel more optimistic and more motivated to use the time wisely.
Today, I realised that over the past couple of weeks I had become increasingly caught up in the stress and the uncertainty. As business prospects vanished before my eyes, I felt the anxiousness rise inside me. When I ventured out to go grocery shopping only to see empty shelves, I felt the anxiousness rise inside of me. When I tried to log onto the government website to claim social security payments for the first time in my life of 52 years only to be met with a message that the website was down, I felt the anxiousness rise inside of me. As I read the news, hungry for the numbers of growing Covid-19 cases around the world, and the closure of cities and regions, I felt the anxiousness rise inside of me. As I have watched other businesses pivot during this time but in my mind cannot fathom as to what I can creatively do to pivot my own business, I felt the anxiousness rise inside of me. Although I know that stress leaves me vulnerable to an MS episode which can have permanent ramifications, I could only feel the anxiousness rise inside of me.
Today, I made the first but probably most important decision for me to navigate this new world order. Today, I consciously said no to the feeling of anxiousness rising inside of me. Today, I decided that this will be my period of hibernation. Today, I decided that during this period of hibernation, this will be a time to learn, to create, and to rejuvenate. Today is my first day of Hibernation 101.
