Lee-Ann Olwage
by Lee-Ann Olwage from Cape Town, South Africa
Black Swan
Black Swan refers to an unpredictable or unforeseen event, typically one with extreme consequences. Black swan events are characterized by their extreme rarity, their severe impact, and the widespread insistence they were obvious in hindsight.
During the first 8 weeks of isolation in South Africa, I decided to turn the lens on myself to explore themes of vulnerability, isolation, and my own struggles with mental health through a series of self-portraits.
As photographers, we often ask people we create with to become vulnerable in front of our lens and share intimate parts of themselves with us. I never really thought of stepping in front of my own lens until I was forced to. Often being stripped of the familiar is intimidating at first, but once you get comfortable with being uncomfortable and you allow the process to unfold without resistance you find the real magic. It was through this process that I become vulnerable in front of my own lens. With no busyness to distract and stripped bare of routine, identity, and the familiar I was forced to peel back the layers of myself and hold the mirror up to myself in an act of honest self-observation.
SELF-PORTRAITS: PHOTOGRAPHERS IN CONFINEMENT
Curated by Svetlana Bachevanova
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.
