The Isolation Diary
The images presented here are taken from my latest and ongoing series, an intimate visual journal which began at the start March 2020. The project is a gentle examination into the crippling stigma surrounding male mental health, particularly during these extremely challenging times. As a freelance creative I lost all my work when the pandemic struck, and like many I continue to face a very precarious future. Set within the four walls of an urban domestic environment whilst living with my partner Rosie, this series is a visual representation of the complicated emotions I continue to experience, battling with loneliness, depression, anxiety and unemployment.
Back in March when I began work on this project, I set myself the task of keeping a simple written diary, a vital means of coping with my own mental health issues and making sense of the whirlwind of emotions I was experiencing at the time. As someone who has struggled with mental health problems for many years, this is a topic that is extremely close to my heart and one that is a consistently recurring thematic element in my work. The photographs in this ongoing project are memories of these private moments, at times when I felt it most acutely, helping Rosie and I to make sense of this complicated situation.
Whilst this series began as a simple coping mechanism to deal with the immediate effects of social lockdown and unemployment, it has since matured and developed a far more nuanced and articulate visual language. I was sadly not surprised to read an article in the news today stating that currently around eighty-four men commit suicide each week in the UK, approximately twelve every day. With male mental health now a very serious issue and one of the biggest killers of young men, I feel that it is vital that we can find space for discussion of this difficult topic within the visual arts as a whole. It is my hope in sharing my own short story that others may find understanding and compassion in this work, in what can be a very lonely and difficult time. As a gentle response to sensitive issues of mental health, this series quietly celebrates the fragile interpersonal relationships that hold us all together, when everything feels like it is falling apart.
Lastly, I wish to dedicate this series to my loving and ever supportive partner Rosie: you know who you really love when you need them the most!
Back in March when I began work on this project, I set myself the task of keeping a simple written diary, a vital means of coping with my own mental health issues and making sense of the whirlwind of emotions I was experiencing at the time. As someone who has struggled with mental health problems for many years, this is a topic that is extremely close to my heart and one that is a consistently recurring thematic element in my work. The photographs in this ongoing project are memories of these private moments, at times when I felt it most acutely, helping Rosie and I to make sense of this complicated situation.
Whilst this series began as a simple coping mechanism to deal with the immediate effects of social lockdown and unemployment, it has since matured and developed a far more nuanced and articulate visual language. I was sadly not surprised to read an article in the news today stating that currently around eighty-four men commit suicide each week in the UK, approximately twelve every day. With male mental health now a very serious issue and one of the biggest killers of young men, I feel that it is vital that we can find space for discussion of this difficult topic within the visual arts as a whole. It is my hope in sharing my own short story that others may find understanding and compassion in this work, in what can be a very lonely and difficult time. As a gentle response to sensitive issues of mental health, this series quietly celebrates the fragile interpersonal relationships that hold us all together, when everything feels like it is falling apart.
Lastly, I wish to dedicate this series to my loving and ever supportive partner Rosie: you know who you really love when you need them the most!