This piece was made as an assignment, in which we had to make a short piece on our personal response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
I wanted to take a lighter approach to my response to the pandemic and lockdown. The words ‘Covid-19’, ‘coronavirus’, ‘lockdown’, ‘quarantine’, ‘pandemic’ and the likes I feel are almost shoved down my throat several times a day. I am sick of them. I, like everybody, has had my struggles with lockdown – not being able to see friends and family, feeling very lonely, my mental health and well being just going out the window. I thought about making my film about these struggles, however, I decided against it. Firstly, I felt it was the obvious choice and my personal struggles are, well, personal, and I do not want to shout them from the metaphorical rooftops. I wanted to try and look at some of the positives to come from all this. Hobbies I have picked up. Skills I have learnt. Maybe even the fast I have been able to keep my job. However, I decided that I wanted to do it on my hair.
I have been bleaching my dying my hair for the past 2 and a half years. Well, not me specifically- I normal times I would leave it up to the professionals. But with the closure of the hairdressers, I have had to learn how to try and do it myself. It has been a huge learning curve to say the least, but I have found it to be a source of calm and relaxation, especially during incredibly stressful times. Although I wanted to try and stay away from the darker sides of lockdown and try to focus on the light, as I was planning this piece more I felt as though I could not totally avoid it.
While editing, I was thinking about how I was going to incorporate the element of this process being a therapeutic activity for me. I thought of maybe trying to write a poem. The first three lines come to me while editing, and then I finished writing the rest of it.
I wanted to take a lighter approach to my response to the pandemic and lockdown. The words ‘Covid-19’, ‘coronavirus’, ‘lockdown’, ‘quarantine’, ‘pandemic’ and the likes I feel are almost shoved down my throat several times a day. I am sick of them. I, like everybody, has had my struggles with lockdown – not being able to see friends and family, feeling very lonely, my mental health and well being just going out the window. I thought about making my film about these struggles, however, I decided against it. Firstly, I felt it was the obvious choice and my personal struggles are, well, personal, and I do not want to shout them from the metaphorical rooftops. I wanted to try and look at some of the positives to come from all this. Hobbies I have picked up. Skills I have learnt. Maybe even the fast I have been able to keep my job. However, I decided that I wanted to do it on my hair.
I have been bleaching my dying my hair for the past 2 and a half years. Well, not me specifically- I normal times I would leave it up to the professionals. But with the closure of the hairdressers, I have had to learn how to try and do it myself. It has been a huge learning curve to say the least, but I have found it to be a source of calm and relaxation, especially during incredibly stressful times. Although I wanted to try and stay away from the darker sides of lockdown and try to focus on the light, as I was planning this piece more I felt as though I could not totally avoid it.
While editing, I was thinking about how I was going to incorporate the element of this process being a therapeutic activity for me. I thought of maybe trying to write a poem. The first three lines come to me while editing, and then I finished writing the rest of it.
