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Julia Hadji Stylianou07
CREDIT: Julia Hadji-Stylianou ARPS

The Furlough Diaries

Contemporary Home | Events | News

This is the fifth blog in a series on COVID-19 and lockdown, edited by contemporaryweb@rps.org and contemporarydeputy@rps.org

 

Julia Hadji Stylianou01
CREDIT: Julia Hadji-Stylianou ARPS
Julia Hadji Stylianou02
CREDIT: Julia Hadji-Stylianou ARPS
Julia Hadji Stylianou03
CREDIT: Julia Hadji-Stylianou ARPS
Julia Hadji Stylianou04
CREDIT: Julia Hadji-Stylianou ARPS
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CREDIT: Julia Hadji-Stylianou ARPS
Julia Hadji Stylianou06
CREDIT: Julia Hadji-Stylianou ARPS
Julia Hadji Stylianou07
CREDIT: Julia Hadji-Stylianou ARPS
Julia Hadji Stylianou08
CREDIT: Julia Hadji-Stylianou ARPS
Julia Hadji Stylianou09
CREDIT: Julia Hadji-Stylianou ARPS
Julia Hadji Stylianou10
CREDIT: Julia Hadji-Stylianou ARPS
Julia Hadji Stylianou11
CREDIT: Julia Hadji-Stylianou ARPS
Julia Hadji Stylianou12
CREDIT: Julia Hadji-Stylianou ARPS

I live in Desborough, a small town in Northamptonshire. I am a graduate of De Montfort University in Leicester, having gained both a Bachelor’s Degree in Photography and Video in 2012, followed by a Master’s Degree in Photography in 2014. I joined the RPS in 2014 and continue to create my own personal projects and work alongside my full-time career.

I work as an associate lecturer teaching photography and video for De Montfort University, alongside working in the commercial photography industry as an image retoucher at Next PLC.

I, like many others, was furloughed in April this year, shortly after lockdown began. It opened up a huge window of time that has been unusual and unsettling for a lot of people. Getting to grips with the new ‘normal’ was odd, but also sparked an idea to use this time to be creative and also reflect on the current circumstances.

I sought out to photograph the new norm, and document what it personally meant for me to ‘stay home’ and ‘stay safe’. I really began to look around the house and find small points of interest as I went about my new “everyday” routine, but also started noticing small things – shadows cast in the house, looking through the windows, reflections.

Eat, sleep, get your government-approved exercise, repeat.

What felt like some much-needed time to myself to begin with slowly started to feel like Groundhog Day.

I explored the notion of time, and how I felt almost overwhelmed with the amount of free time there was. Like so many others, I went from never having any spare time to suddenly having a lot of time.

It led me to explore my mental state in these images as well as document my days at home.

I chose to keep this project black and white to emphasise this idea of time standing still. Days merging together, time losing meaning, mental state fluctuating.

The project has allowed me to research others responding to the pandemic creatively, and explore and create a body of work that I feel others can relate to during this time of uncertainty. It has been a rollercoaster ride of emotions for many of us, but has also enabled me to reflect and appreciate some of the more over-looked things in life.