Emily Jex

The Struggles and Sadness of Recovery / Magazine / Life in Lockdown

The Struggles and Sadness of Recovery

My Grandad recently underwent a double heart bypass and has been recovering slowly but surely. I worked to show the celebration of small victories that lead to a successful recovery. The images show a gradual progression in him reaching the recovery goals he has set for himself, such as driving his car again. Some images show him in quite a depressive state, he was unmobile for a while and after discussing this with him, I know that he found this the most challenging part of his recovery and it left him feeling quite defenseless and vulnerable. I wanted to capture an image that provokes the viewer to empathise and almost imagine themselves in a position such as this.

Magazine

My idea for the project was to show the eccentric outfits you would see on a catwalk being worn by a regular person. I wanted there to be a clear contrast between the eccentricity of the outfits and the normality of the person sporting them. I used unconventional, clashing patterns paired with an abstract colour theme in order to create chaos within the outfit. The idea of this is to normalise the so-called ‘don'ts’ of fashion and spur a yet to be found confidence in women that almost fear the idea of being a nonconformist. I want the colours, patterns and shapes I use to shock and provoke a surge of curiosity in the viewer.

Life in Lockdown

For this project I created a series of images that captured the everyday life of a family adjusting to a life in lockdown. I captured the lifestyle change, daily life adjustments, means of entertainment, sustainment of family connections, the trials and tribulations that follow a distressing and unprecedented time such as this. I decided that I would not use artificial lighting kits. I feel that it is important to keep the images as true to life as possible. Even though this time we are currently facing feels far from the norm of our lives, it is our new reality and I want my images to show this.