In the “Isolation” series, Taja focuses on the issue of isolation and deprivation in times of Covid-19 and the related quarantine. She expresses the atmosphere of insecurity and loneliness during these times.
The global lockdown brought a new spectrum of daily emotions. For many there might have been more intense feelings of fear and frustration, and especially for those living alone, exacerbated loneliness and emptiness. While some may have managed to create new routines and reinvent themselves, others struggled to go through these uncertain times.
When the pandemic reached Czech Republic, Taja Spasskova was amazed to see the rapid changes in the world she had known and how everything felt so turbulent. In the “Isolation” series, the photographer found a way to work with this new reality and question the now so present themes of deprivation, isolation, and loneliness.
Taja invited Tia Gronlund, a Canadian art student on exchange, to be the central piece of the project:
I’m from Belarus and when the pandemic arrived in Eastern Europe, I was immediately very worried about my family members back home. I felt like it was important to work with someone who shared this experience of being in lockdown, while being so far away from home and family. Shooting Tia, I felt this great connection — there seemed to be a lot of parallels between us.
In the series, one can see several objects that symbolise the pandemic such as face masks, gloves, iPhones, disinfectant wipes and photos of home. Taja’s use of foil represents the feeling of isolation and the barriers to physical contact, and the plastic it is made with depicts claustrophobia and the feeling of suffocating.
Although the series seems to have a rather obscure and traumatic undertone, the photographer assures there are positive outcomes in all of this:
We’re facing a period of fundamental change, and that process might be quite traumatic but the future definitely lies in dialogue, collaboration and solidarity.
Taja Spasskova’s is a professional photographer and art director living and working in Prague, Czech Republic. To see more of her work, have a look at her Cherrydeck profile or at her website, here.
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