Simone Gorman-Clark, Smothered (Creative 2021)

This self-portrait was taken during lockdown when I felt like COVID was like an invisible pair of hands cutting off my breath, sight, connection to my loved ones and the outside world like I was being smothered. In visualising this piece the words by Walt Whitman kept coming to mind - "Turn your face towards the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you". I wanted to incorporate light on one side of my face representing the sunshine and the shadow or darkness falling behind me on the other.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.