Patrick Brown
by Patrick Brown from Bangkok, Thailand
January 13, 2020 Thailand has a confirmed case of Covid-19. The number of cases has been very low compared to other countries with roughly the same population. Thailand has a population of 69.5 million compared with the UK 66.65 million and Italy 60.3 million. At the time of writing this, the country had recorded 3,185 cases of infection, 3,066 have recovered, with 58 deaths.
My personal experience of the Covid-19 period has been very uneventful. I was traveling a lot in the lead up to the outbreak of Covid-19. So, to take an imposed break for a while wasn't that hard. I was able to spend a lot of time with my wife, and I can report we're still very happily married. At first Camilla and I were like most other people concerned about the outbreak and what was going to happen. First we thought about traveling to Copenhagen (my wife is Danish), but the Danish imposed a travel ban on non-Danish nationals. We then thought about traveling to Australia, but Camilla was only granted entry to Australia the same day that all flights from Bangkok to Australia were stopped. In hindsight it was probably the best thing we did, staying in Thailand. Once it was clear to the world that Covid-19 raised very serious health issues, the Thai government imposed a nationwide night curfew, closed malls and discouraged activities to limit the spread. My local convenience store has a better screening system in place than some international airports around the world. You have to have your temperature checked, you have to wear a mask, and you must apply hand sanitizer to your hands before being allowed into the shop. At restaurants, shops, hair-dresses, etc. they have a screening system in place, and at the more upscale businesses, such as mass transit railway in Bangkok and shopping centers, the companies have installed thermal cameras.
I’d been through a few thermal cameras on my travels especially in Asia, however before the Covid-19 lockdown, an image of me seen through a thermal camera was bestowed only to health or government officials at airports. For the first time, I saw myself in infrared radiation, visible light was made redundant. I became fascinated with this invisible world, the cameras seems to turn the world of normality, which at this point in time is far from very normal, into a world of science fiction. The image seems incomplete, incompatible with the world around me, yet it is familiar, it's me.
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.
