In Platonic Romance, I deal with the state concurrent with the Covid-19 lockdown. It is the everyday and yet fundamental things that have become important in this extraordinary time. Physical contact has become a luxury. Your own living space suddenly plays a different role, moving into the center of attention. The question underlying is what does one need to survive this kind of crisis, or other states of emergency, to keep hope and perseverance?
I chose to focus on representing interpersonal warmth and closeness, and the memory and certainty of these. I depict the private interior space, the daily zone in which we all have to stay, and which has transformed. The place of residence, previously only considered as a house, is now becoming an office, kindergarten, school, gym. It is a place where various needs are now concentrated, which can go beyond the scope of this project.
This series consists of two parts, the first one being large format portraits of people, which depict the loving and yet so alienated togetherness. The second part, at its opposite, is formed by smaller scale still lifes from the living room, objects and corners that have become a daily sight and outlook in times of domestic isolation. This work represents, on the one hand, the current state of being, which has seemed almost petrified over several months, and on the other hand, the imaginary state to which everyone clings.