New Online Exhibition Captures Community Experiences Of Lockdown
22 January 2021, 05:12 AM
Entertainment
2020 Vision: Lockdown Experiences from the Cayman Islands is a new online exhibition by the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands, developed in collaboration with the Cayman Islands Government’s Covid-19 Commemorative Project. It seeks to explore our community’s diverse experiences of lockdown – reflecting how we, individually and collectively, are dealing with this unique moment in our history.
Developed from a country-wide ‘Open Call’ for photographs in late 2020, 42 photographers feature in the exhibition and their images capture a broad view of life in Cayman both during lockdown and as restrictions had begun to ease. Three major themes emerged through the camera’s lens: Home/Family Life, Wellness/Outdoor Time, and Community. Home/Family Life captures the domestic environment: working from home, spending time with family, online learning, and time for reflection. Wellness/Outdoor Time illustrates the importance of connecting to the natural environment even if limited to the 90 minutes daily allowance. Once restrictions were lifted enough to allow these excursions, many appreciated the ability to once again go on walks and be immersed in our outdoor surroundings. The final category of Community reflects the various experiences of being out in the community at large, whether that be shopping for groceries, receiving healthcare, witnessing the bravery of frontline workers, and the essential service providers that continued to support residents during lockdown. While many of these lockdown events are now in the past-tense in Cayman, we recognise that this state of affairs is an ongoing experience for many across the globe. Our unique position consequently allows our community to reflect on these situations while we continue our efforts in keeping our islands safe.