About 2 months ago, I signed up for an art, photography and installation exhibition called ‘ Children in Lockdown’ organized by the ‘Stages Theatre Group’. This theatre company, based in Sri Lanka, have dedicated themselves to support the variety of cultures and arts present on the island and are creating and strengthening the links between theatre and wider society. The main purpose of this exhibition was to promote artworks, photography which expressed the personal connection one had with his/her piece and to make known what children around the island were facing whilst in lockdown.

The process of knowing what kind of art I wanted to create or capture was somewhat a challenge. I found myself stuck in the middle of it all, not knowing what to choose between the two. The deadline to submit the piece(s) was September 30th, so I had roughly about a month to make my decision, work on this project and submit it.

I kept this project on hold for awhile, however, I didn’t let the thought of it die out. I kept reminding myself that I had to have an idea of what I was going to do, soon. After a few days, I finally decided that I was going do a collage of photos, capturing the Indian Ocean and the sunsets that come along with it.

Nature had always been something I appreciated since I was a little kid. During lockdown and the pandemic I realized that nature had been able to thrive because of less human activity, carbon emissions and pollution. This installation was an opportunity for me to appreciate nature and help people see the value and beauty of it even during all this chaos and uncertainty.

I started photographing sunsets every other day at about 5.45 or 6.00 pm for about two weeks and afterwards I started working on the collage itself. I wanted it to be something creative and not just 6 or more pictures of sunsets. So I came up with the idea to merge the pictures together and make it into one single image.

My plan was to section the collage into 3 sections. Making one section the sky, another the horizon and the last section the sea. I started picking pictures for the sky and I chose 3 different pictures, did some editing and made the sky. All 3 pictures were differently angled, so I had to crop and edit it to make it look like the sky was the only thing in those 3 pictures. I did the same for the horizon and the sea as well.

After some final changes, I was happy with the overall result of the collage. This wh0le project took me about 3 weeks to complete. I decided to name my piece ‘Paradiso in Lockdown.’ Paradiso is the Italian word for paradise and I feel that this collage of sunsets justifies the title completely. Even though lockdown made the city look dull and silent, you would always hear the sound of the waves or you would see the sky flooded with a shades of orange, reds, blues and golds or at times there would simply be a calm sea which for me always felt like paradise.

I finally submitted my artwork. A week later, I received an email saying that my piece had been chosen to be showcased on their website. That was good news!

This project was something special and it made me appreciate nature altogether. I definitely learnt a thing or two from this experience and I hope to continue photography in the future.

Learning outcomes:-

Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience- 

This project challenged me to create an idea from scratch, develop it and execute it. The idea to do a collage had sprung up in my mind when I had kept the project on hold for period of time. I realized that giving yourself a bit of time to let fresh ideas flow through your mind was not a bad decision at all. It took me about 2-3 days to develop the idea and about 3 week to finish it. This project definitely pushed me to think out of the box and helped me cultivate the creativity within me.