Aisha Omar

My body of work aims to reflect a variety of emotions and feelings people have expressed and evidently faced throughout the pandemic; to which the future still remains unclear. Specifically, I wanted to focus on mental health which is an important issue to me and one which throughout the pandemic had severely worsened for countless people around the world. Leading evidence regarding mental health for both adults and young people during the pandemic, reveals that up to 65% and 75% of both groups respectively, were impacted negatively according to mind.org. Whilst experimenting throughout the interim and beginning the final major project, I changed my approach to begin documenting the pandemic in more explorative manner, different to my usual methods of what I’m used to, taking influence from photographers such as Vera Lutter, Craigie Horsfield, Brassaï and Rut Blees. I began to explore darkness and light through night photography, to present emotions people may have felt from isolation, emptiness and abandonment. Self-interpretation based on individuals’ will affect the reception of these images, as the pandemic has impacted some negatively more so than others; such as no motivation, unproductive, isolation, no socialising or exercise, whereas others have thrived during this time by creating their own businesses or found time for family which would not have happened ordinarily. I ventured to familiar areas I know such as Kingston, Knightsbridge, the City of London and Chelsea. To create abstract photos that didn’t locate where you are, with the darkness making it hard to decipher adding the feeling of uncertainty. I created a series that aims to show “The light of hope” in the midst of all the darkness, essentially illustrating the unfamiliarity to life as we know it, whilst living through this unprecedented time of crisis.