The so-called ‘first wave’ of the coronavirus has put us all in compelled lockdown; our space was reduced to that which is most personal. A lot of us used this time for self-reflection: we wondered on our place in this world, on our surroundings. We were – and still are – floating in uncertainty, trying to figure out what’s important and what’s not.
As for myself, I found how much my family matters to me, and how much I am comfortable with just being… occupying my small corner of the city. Time passed, and I started to appreciate all the small rituals I have adapted. I found that many like me have adapted the same rituals: we practiced yoga, we watered our plants, we invested in ourselves – bodies and minds.
I started imagining people I know, each one in his or hers corner, encircled with symbols of their rituals. It would have been interesting to capture this, I thought: people in their imposed fortresses of solitude. Luckily for me, Imanuela Oh invited me to participate in the “one shot” project: a Lomo LC-A camera that will go around, from photographer to photographer – each one taking a single frame.
I photographed my brother in his room in our mother’s house. Sitting on his bed – a home within a home – surrounded by posters and his vinyl collection (re-organized and cataloged during the lockdown, of course). An attempt to capture someone I love where they spent most of their time… a small moment between all the thoughts about changes in life and the “where do we go from here”s.
A month after this photo was taken, my brother moved to his own apartment, for the first time in his life.
* Taken with a Lomo LC-A and Lomo 800 film, as part of Lomography Israel’s “One Shot” project, led by Imanuela Oh. The entire project was published on lomography.co.il online magazine, and it includes works by wonderful photographers such as Yahav Trudler, Aviad Zisman, Ariel Pedatzur, Ariel Bendet, Noa Shalev and Lihi Brosh.