Even as physical closeness and touch becomes acceptable now, no one will forget how much all of us have craved intimacy during the months of lockdown. As the world had suddenly shut, we needed to close our doors to those dearest to us. This distance, coupled with the innate human need for companionship left all of us devastated. Some of us tuned to music, others to books. Work from home became the norm; but what became of those who were separated from their work, simply because it thrived outside? Confined at home, Russian photographer Karman Verdi used online lockdown photography to tell the story of the dearth of human communication and interaction when it was most needed.
History speaks for itself – creativity is not confined by circumstance. Verdi took contributions from people and superimposed them in his space to create ghosts.
The photographer used screenshots of his models and then projected them onto surfaces of his house. The space had been an opportunity to superimpose his subjects while candid; the comfort that comes only with belongingness exposed the models at their most honest.
Through the company of his ‘ghosts’, Verdi offered his viewers a demonstration of what humans around the world felt – the yearning desire to sit with someone, to play, to love, to be. Without words the lockdown photography showcased moments of solitude and described them to the eye.
The sum of images developed into a project lovingly called There are so many ghosts at my spot. In the more recent pictures, Verdi photographed himself and the ghost, sometimes apart, sometimes together.
Needless to say, as fiction.contains fragments of the author, because no art can truly be impersonal, Verdi’s lockdown photography contains an autobiographical thread. As he and a spirit sit in a room, they become one.
If you liked how Karman utilised lockdown photography, you’ll like how this photographer creates Illusions using the human body.
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