Looking glass
A pandemic-era project invited women photographers from around the world to share what they captured of life in lockdown. The results are moving, questioning, explorative
Fractured identities, neglected haunts, children escaping into their imaginations and loved ones connecting in new ways — these are some of the moments captured and preserved by The Journal, a collective project that aims to showcase work created by women photographers in the pandemic.
The project was launched in March 2020 by photographers Charlotte Schmitz of Germany and Hannah Yoon of the Philippines. “In the early days of the pandemic it was evident many of us photographers were losing income opportunities, many living isolated, and that it disproportionately affected women in the industry,” Schmitz says.
Women in general are underrepresented in the field, she adds. “The pandemic has only heightened the imbalance. Media outlets around the world got decimated, many have smaller budgets than before. Additionally, women often shoulder the main responsibility for family-related work at home in the pandemic and can’t work as much as before.”
More than 400 women from over 75 countries have applied to be part of The Journal’s lockdown project. These artists have been split up into groups within which they collaborate, offer feedback on each other’s work, and decide which images should be uploaded to the Instagram page @thejournal_collective, which serves as an online gallery.
“We turned the cameras on ourselves, our families, on intimate moments and private spaces,” Schmitz says, “focusing on the collective personal, emotional and psychological experiences during this crisis.”