Inside the Box
Stuck in their dorm rooms during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, this series is a photo-narrative of 10 international students in the UK (England).
2020-2021.
These images document the space in its stillness and tries to capture the essence of the person through their space. I see them as portraits of their space as well rather than just the people. The walls give us the physical context of being boxed in during tumultuous times and their rooms give us their personality.
Below are a selected few from the series.
We're all urban beings, thriving inside a box, our homes. The space surrounding us becomes an extension of who we are and what we like. Is this box enough to define us? Are we just confined to this box?
Of course not! But it is true, that the home we live in is made with all the conscious decisions we take to create a safe haven for us, because this is the only place we can be our true selves. We never realize the importance of having a home, a safe space.
But, 2020 was one of those years. We were all forced to stay inside due to a virus that changed the way the world worked, for a while(!?). Our homes became our only base; and for a year (and more...), everything happened within four walls.
Students in university halls were experiencing a very different change - alone, away from their real home. The concept of their room becoming their home wasn't new but through the pandemic, out of no option, these small rooms became the only surviving system they had. Every year, a new student takes the room, makes it their own, leaves, and then comes another. But this past year the students had to stay indoors for a longer time than ever before. Their room was their new home-base. Their only space. Only solace.
How do you think this affected their relationship with the 4 walls?
This box was made into a home by us.
It doesn't define us, but every detail was built carefully into what is now.