Ghadah Alrawi
by Ghadah Alrawi from Falls Church, VA
On March 22, 2020, my sons and I evacuated from our home in Surabaya, Indonesia. We arrived to an empty apartment in Arlington, VA, leaving my husband and two dogs 10,161 miles away. The uncertainty of what was unfolding around the world and the anxiety were almost too much to handle. The first week after we moved, I began to have a recurring nightmare, a terrifying dream that I could not save my children from a tsunami hitting our home.
The image “Nightmare” was an idea originally conceived for a curation of images on @thejournal_collective around the theme of “Dream.” The Journal, a collective of over 400 women photographers documenting their time in quarantine, had been a lifeline during the quarantine period and allowed me to explore photography in confinement in new ways by turning the camera on myself. This image is a photo mosaic combining images from our last two days in Indonesia and the first days of lockdown, all layered on an image of myself underwater. It symbolizes not only my nightmare, but my experience in lockdown. Water continues to be the soothing and healing element I need to relieve my anxiety, but itself also a source of anxiety.
One last breath before the tsunami waves come crashing. One last breath before I reach out for my children’s hands. Arlington, VA | May 11, 2020.
SELF-PORTRAITS: PHOTOGRAPHERS IN CONFINEMENT
Curated by Svetlana Bachevanova (USA/France)
A collection of self-portraits made by photojournalists from five continents during the unprecedent lockdown due to the corona virus pandemic.
Photographers are people on the road, living to document the lives of others.
Constrained by the lockdown, many of them had their first experience of being still long enough to begin seeing and understanding small details about who they are, their lifestyles and values, that were overshadowed while they were busy. These self-portraits express their experience.
This is a unique collection of self-portraits from some of the best lenses in photojournalism at an historic moment.
Photographers in Confinement is a project in process and I welcome additional submissions from photojournalists at svetlana@fotoevidence.com
I am looking for potential exhibition partners in the USA and abroad.
Svetlana Bachevanova is a founder and publisher of FotoEvidence, long time photojournalist and curator.
