Due to the ongoing pandemic, we are more or less forced to reduce our range of movement and exposure, and withdraw into our homes. Bedrooms are now used for much more than sleeping, clothes have become antiques, and screens are our only friends, making our apartments cells and we their captives. With more cooking, studying, working, and mere virtual interaction, what was once known as our daily routine and environment have entirely morphed into a monitored apocalyptic era. This leads to the occasional frustration and discomfort, possibly beginning to avoid some parts of our homes while rediscovering others and finding new favorite spots and traits within ourselves as well as our four walls.
The concept of this project is to capture the process in which we have gotten to know one another through a visual conversation of how each of us has explored and rediscovered our supposedly familiar homes. Each day on a shared Instagram account we have taken turns in capturing a topic, idea, color, or object representing something within our spaces, and on the following day the other has responded, referred to it or put it in a new context. Therefore, by uploading one photo a day over the course of three weeks not only have we gotten to know our own confined environment and lifestyle, but also those of our counterpart, resulting in a conversing collection of images.
In a way, this project has assisted in keeping us occupied and sane throughout a global debacle, referring slightly to therapeutic techniques of grounding, and also challenging the mind to reply to a photo in whatever way it sees fit rather than simply snapping freely.
To see the project's Instagram account, click here
Paul Jürgens is a photography and design student based in Darmstadt and born in Cologne. In his previous studies at Hochschule Darmstadt, he explored the various sub-areas of communication design intensively and developed an independent, creative and conceptual work process. Photography and typography turned out to be his main areas of study.