The project began in August 2020, when I worked with 15 participants who volunteered via an open call to have their portraits taken and their words recorded. I set up a 1:1 photo shoot and conversation with each person.
The sessions started from a general question about the participants’ own pandemic experience; none of the conversations was directed, planned, or scripted.
To put them at their ease in being fully honest, I ensured anonymity for all participants in the final installation. To do so, I separated the voices of all participants from their images, making it impossible to decipher which statement belongs to which portrait. I then grouped excerpts of the conversations into a single soundtrack and paired it with in certain instances with digital, randomized animation of the participants’ photos or with a single image.