Painting in the Pandemic

Due to the lockdown I instantly felt restricted in how I could create pieces and plans I had over the months. One of my main objectives was to do a shoot using body paint and combining the human body as a canvas for my pattern.

I decided one evening to experiment with painting my own body with my pattern. This become such a surreal experience, combining two areas of my life I am self critical of: my body and my art. The whole process of painting my body from head to two took over 7 hours but the outcome was a surprise. To me the pattern felt like war paint and instantly gave me a feeling of strength over my own body, it almost felt like an armour, and the pictures taken I feel echoed this contrast of strength and vulnerability together.

Bella Hadid captured by the photographer Pierre-Ange Carlotti and creative-directed by its designer Simon Porte Jacquemus.

During lockdown Vogue magazine did a FaceTime shoot with Bella Hadid in which she modelled in her house and posed for the magazine and the outcome was incredible, a stark reminder that creativity has no bounds even when we feel trapped in a global pandemic. Since this shoot there have been waves of people who have done FaceTime shoots.

Ona Greenwood a local artist from Manchester who I have collaborated on a shoot with before had done her own version of this with two models. I contacted Ona in regards to doing our own shoot for my body paint. My housemate Maddy was happy to work as the model in which I painted her body and then we face-timed Ona in which she directed Maddy over the phone and captured the images alongside me capturing digital photographs of certain poses. The outcome of this body paint shoot was vastly different to when I painted my own body, this was an empowering shoot for Maddy which although it took over 4 hours she said it was an experience in which she felt empowered as a female and the body paint she felt covered up flaws she felt insecure about personally and much like when I painted my own body the pattern again became a visual armour. You can view more of Onas facetime shoot here.

Using the lockdown for creative purposes in what u initially thought would be contricting has begun to make a new platform, for people to express themselves. We forget that he best creative elements are birthed through hardship. The lockdown has provided me with a view that I can utilise my surroundings to create and not allow the feeling of being trapped to hinder my creative journey.