Artist Statement

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a strange time and in early 2020 it made strangers of all of us.  Stranger Days is a portrait series made in response to community connection during the Covid-19 pandemic. Created during the Summer of 2020, while in residence with the City of Abbotsford’s Parks, Recreation, and Culture’s Go Play Outside Program, I set out to capture the reconnection of the citizens of Abbotsford. This project grew out if my own desire to reconnect with people after months of isolation. When I began this project I expected to encounter people weighed down by the pandemic and hesitant for possible interaction with strangers. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by a community feeling the same desire, as myself, to reconnect with each other. To help create meaningful interactions with the community this project was made with a 4×5 view camera, a format of photography which requires both the subject and photographer to spend time together.

Now in 2021 when our bubbles have had to become smaller once again, these portraits take on new meaning. The portraits have been placed throughout the City of Abbotsford to encourage people to go out and experience art in their city in a safe, socially distanced way. They serve as a reminder of the community waiting for us at the end of these strange times.