Separation, David Townshend

Exploring Churches, Mick Cant

DAVID TOWNSHEND ARPS

Do you take images ‘of’ something or ‘about’ something? Do you try to tell a story? I would like to show how the latter approach can be a particularly rewarding.

My normal approach to creating images tends to be serendipitous – just see what happens. But during a Bailey Chinnery Cultivating Creativity online workshop baileychinnery.com/ workshops the participants had to produce a panel of images on a given theme. I chose ‘An emotion’ – a challenge for me as I don’t normally do emotions, and rarely do I consciously start with a topic and then take images to tell a story.

The course took place in May/June 2020 and my project ‘Separation’ was about my feelings following the loss of personal contact with my young grandchildren during the coronavirus lockdown. The series of images expresses my changing emotions from initial despair through acceptance to hope and finally the joy of renewed personal contact and a return to normality – an end to enforced separation and spending happy times with my grandchildren again.

To make the project even more challenging I decided that all the images had to be created in my garden and edited in Lightroom only. The images were created on a single day, which perhaps creates a sense of coherence. The recurring motif of an oval/double oval represents my grandchildren.

The top line of the panel represents my feelings of despair, exclusion and despondency at the imposition of lockdown. The shapes and colours are harsh and warning, full of threat.

The first image Chaos reflects the uncertainty and anxiety over the implications of a lockdown. The second Blocked means no contact with my grandchildren – the motif is blocked from view.

Danger - This is apparently a simple, literal image saying No! and Banned!, but it is full of ambiguities. There is an apparent conflict and contradiction between the gentle pink background and the graphic cross – a harsh message, which conveys the danger to life – yet, as we know, not so for children. This also echoes the confusing information we have all received during this crisis. The image conveys not only danger but also exclusion.

The middle line conveys both acceptance and some hope of an end to separation. The images are less aggressive, less strident in mood, with softer tonal values. The lines and colours become softer too. This brings a glimmer of light suggesting the hint of a way forward. From the middle

line onwards, the grandchildren motif gradually becomes more visible and accessible. Perhaps we see the Mist clearing but the lack of full clarity also represents our sometimes stuttering contact via smartphones and computer screens rather than face to face.

The bottom line reflects my feelings at the prospect of light beyond the gloom, a new sunrise and the joy of renewed contact, and finally the calmness of us all being together again. The colours are happier; the harsh lines have been replaced by soft curves and a dancing rhythm.

I hope by the time of publication normality will indeed finally have returned.