Housebound - A Portrait Project in Isolation

07/02/2021

I am so thrilled to share that four of the portraits from this series have been selected to be included in a new 200+ page photobook called "Mass Isolation Australia" produced by the Ballarat International Foto Biennale. Preorders are available now and will close on Tuesday, 9th February 2021 (AEST).

You can place your order for the book by following the link below. Thank you all who came along for the ride and took the time to tell me your stories...

EXCLUSIVELY AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER We are so proud to present Mass Isolation Australia, a curated archive of our online project. Created in the midst of lockdown in March 2020, the project became a way to see the pandemic unfold through Australian eyes, becoming a...

14/09/2020

What an incredible honour to have one of of my images from this project featuring the fabulous Dolly Diamond selected by the Ballarat International Foto Biennale for their campaign!

09/07/2020

With Day 1 of Lockdown 2.0 almost done, here's a handy guide and reminder to help us get through the remaining 41 days (or for the rest of our lives, really).

I'm thinking of kickstarting this portrait series again so if you or someone you know is keen to share your experience through photos, send us a message! In the meantime, stay safe, look out for each other and do the right thing. We are in this together!

31/05/2020

It's been an amazing couple of months meeting so many wonderful people who have welcomed me to their homes and shared with me, and all of us, their experience of self-isolation and social distancing during this pandemic. This has been an uncertain time for many, riddled with fears and anxiety but also one that has been filled with hope and kindness and a heightened sense of community.

As restrictions begin to ease in Melbourne later today, and all across the country, I hope we will continue to practice safe social distancing measures and sanitation. More importantly, I hope we will continue to look out for each other, to be kind and thoughtful.

The support for this project has been overwhelming and I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who participated, sent me messages of encouragement, financially supported me and found some joy and connection through the stories told.

I will be taking a little break from the project in June but would love to keep the conversations going so please feel free to send me a message or interact with the stories.

Stay safe, wash your hands and always choose kindness first.

xox
Sanjeev

29/05/2020

Cal and Ollie – St Kilda

“I grew up in the United States. My family is all stateside. I haven’t been back since May 2017. I was meant to go last year, but some health issues got in the way. I was planning to go over in July for a conference followed by a few weeks with family and friends.

After living here for 15 years, my Dad was going to come to Australia in September. He’s never left North America. Then this pandemic hit. The borders have closed, and I remember one afternoon at a work meeting when a colleague mentioned that during a government briefing that they were preparing for travel to and from the US to potentially be closed for anywhere from a year to a few years.

My heart sunk. I felt this gut-wrenching feeling. I felt guilty for having waited too long to go. I felt panic at the thought that something could happen to a family member, and I couldn’t get there. And I felt utter disappointment that I was losing the opportunity to show my father the country I’ve come to call home. Thankfully I haven’t had any loved ones over there hit by the virus, and I feel really fortunate that I’m in a country where the epidemic has been so small by comparison, but I can’t help but feel disappointed. I don’t know how long it’ll be before the borders reopen and I can afford to fly there again. For now, I just got to stay the course and hope for the best. Ollie keeps me company. We’ve had a couple years together now and I have some of my chosen family in the neighbourhood. We’ll manage.”

27/05/2020

Tim, Ella, Benny (5 years old), Lizzie (3 years old) and Billy (8 months old) - West Footscray

“It’s probably no surprise that juggling the care of three very young kids cooped up at home, with no friends or learning environments has been our real challenge during this recent lock down. Managing the remote learning for a preppie, while looking after the baby and pre-schooler, and trying to squeeze some work in, was pretty hectic.

Nevertheless, what we’re discovered it that we really value family time together. With the slower pace and not having to rush from one thing to another, isolation has given us a bit of a reset.

We’ve take the time to enjoy lots of walks, bike rides and runs, exploring the backyard and nearby Cruikshank park. We’ve also delved into online learning, discovering new books and puzzles, getting into endless craft activities, and definitely zoom calls with friends and family.

Our main priority to get through all this was to was to ensure the kids kept to a solid routine. But we are definitely looking forward to the kids going back to school and kinder! We can’t wait to be able to see friends again, organise trips with family, go to cafes and enjoy playgrounds.” - Ella

14/05/2020

For those parenting at home, I hope you find comfort in these stories... you are not alone...

Readers tell us how they’re managing the Parent-Employee-Teacher trifecta during the pandemic.

13/05/2020

Jason – Dubai / Jessica, Julie, Jeanette and Jemma – Kuala Lumpur

“I moved to Dubai for work last October and was commuting back to KL every so often as I didn’t want to interrupt my oldest daughter’s final year of high school there. My wife Jess and my three daughters were going to join me here this year but then COVID happened and all our plans have been disrupted.

We’ve moved around a lot as a family with my work and I do travel a bit too, so Jess and the girls are quite used to that. But it’s hard to not be able to see them indefinitely. Thankfully for technology, we chat multiple times a day and have video calls constantly, which helps. I was hoping to be back for my daughter’s graduation from high school, but it looks like that won’t be possible.

Since the lockdown came into effect in Dubai, I’ve pretty much stayed home in my apartment, apart from the occasional trip to grab groceries and maybe a coffee. I can’t remember the last time I ever cooked, so I’ve enjoyed doing that and keeping a healthier routine. I’m not skipping meals like I used to, and definitely eating healthier now that I’m preparing my own meals. I’m also having the time to exercise… all of this has been important in getting through this time.

With my team at work, I’m mindful of potential mental and emotional effects this can have on them such as the anxiety of job security and being cooped up at home. So we made it a rule to have our videos turned on during team meetings so we can check in on one another. I've run several team activities. e.g. Zoom workouts with my trainer and whole team and we're doing a quiz night whereby their family members can also participate so we build a bond not just amongst colleagues but also with our family members.” – Jason

“I am in KL with our three girls during the lockdown and the initial plan before COVID was to spend some time between Dubai and KL in February and April. With the sudden closure of borders and the world coming to a standstill, we miss being a full family unit for such an extended period of time.

As we approach completion of nearly eight weeks being at home, things are finally starting to ease a little bit in terms of restrictions. In the last many weeks, the children have been purely bound inside the apartment and I am out to the supermarket twice a week. We have established a routine at home: schooling in the morning, homework in the afternoon and then a quick workout together on most days. It has allowed us to bond a little more out of the ordinary, learning to cook and bake new things together. It has been an emotionally challenging time with the bigger girls at school given that it is their final months in KL and they have not been able to spend any of this time with their friends or at school. In all of this, I am most amazed with how resilient and understanding the children have been, especially Jemma at the age of 4. We are thankful for what we have, shelter, food and health. We miss being with Jason and can't wait till the day when borders open up again so we can start preparing for our move to Dubai.” Jess

11/05/2020

David – The Bronx, New York City (USA)

“When things started to shut down I was touring the West Coast of the U.S. with The Mikado. The theatres were often times closing the day after we left them like dominos. Then, the last three shows in California were cancelled. That was around March 12th.

My boyfriend, who flew out from NYC, and I had planned to take a few days after the tour to vacation in California. Things started to really get odd and close down around us.

We flew back to NYC on the March 16th just to find that one of the doormen in my building had passed away due to COVID that morning. The New Yorker magazine did a very sweet article on his passing, he was one of the first. His elderly mother was recovering from cancer, contracted COVID and survived! That’s been one of the scarier things with this virus it doesn’t seem to follow a logic.

My boyfriend has a small beach side studio in New Jersey, so we grabbed my pup, repacked our bags and drove down there for a few weeks. We lived the suburban life down there gearing up with face masks and hand sanitizer, going to Walmart and Home Depot (because we had previously started a bathroom renovation). Many stores had/have lines out the door to limit customers and allow for social distancing inside.

I’ve had about 20 friends who think that they’ve had it or have not gotten tested but have had suspected cases. Over here, they won’t test you unless you have severe symptoms or have knowingly been exposed. My friends’ experiences tend to be three to four weeks of a miserable array of symptoms, the common thread being fatigue a very high fever.
One friend passed away a month ago from heart failure. They found later that COVID was in his system and was the probable catalyst.

I’ve since come back to my apartment in the Bronx to find a real mix of precautions. My corner 24-hour bodega was closed for a couple weeks. They reopened with plastic floor to ceiling sheets in front of the register and deli. Skater boys are hanging out and one in four have a mask. I’ve seen people getting on and off of the bus, most have masks. So many people are wearing the masks incorrectly. Having either the mouth or nose exposed. There are many typical New Yorkers with cavalier attitudes not taking any precautions. “We’ve been through a lot here, this wont stop us.”

At 7:00pm sharp everday people are standing out of their windows banging on pots and pans clapping and cheering for front line workers, nurses, and doctors. One time I saw someone in scrubs walking down our cross street soaking it in and taking a bow.

The US seems to be half cautious and half stupid. I haven’t been on a bus or subway or in Manhattan since I left for tour mid Feb. I probably won’t be for the foreseeable future.
All performance contracts were cancelled or postponed indefinitely.

Unemployment Insurance is a mess. My application went in a month ago and is still in limbo. The website crashes every time I try to look into it and people literally spend days trying to get through on the phone.

My family is healthy, I’ve got my BF, my dog, and my health, so for now, I’m happy too.” - David

10/05/2020

Robyn, Lou, Kris, Jenny & Milly (via Facetime) and mum June - Caulfield

“Every year for as long as I remember, just us the girls go out for a special lunch to a restaurant to celebrate Mother’s Day. With social distancing in place due to COVID, my sisters and I decided to surprise my 82-year-old Mum with a special Mother’s Day lunch in her garage, with appropriate social distancing of course!

Mum lives up the road in Caulfield on her own and hasn’t left the house in seven weeks, which is huge for her as she’s incredibly social. My dad passed away when I was six and my Mum raised four girls on her own and is a bit of a legend really, with a huge personality. Three of us live nearby (one lives in America) so we decided to bring lunch to her and keep our tradition. My sister Lou is the masterchef in the family and made us these special lunch boxes with all of Mum’s favourite treats” – Robyn

09/05/2020

What an incredible few weeks it's been meeting so many of you (from a distance of course) and capturing a slice of your new "COVID-normal" experience. I've been deeply touched by the candour of everyone who participated, and for the very wonderful messages of encouragement I've received over the weeks. Thank you to everyone for trusting me with your stories.

I'm very excited to announce that from Monday, 11 May Housebound will expand beyond Melbourne and will begin featuring stories from around the world with Housebound - Global Edition. I felt it was time we heard from our global family and take a different perspective of how it's all going in another part of the world. I've been busy curating stories and if you'd like to be a part of this (whether you're in Melbourne or elsewhere), please get in touch.

08/05/2020

Fred, Sophie, Xander and Maxim – Brighton East

“I’ve had to shut my barbershop since the end of March due to the safety concerns. With a partner and two young kids at home, I knew my line of work put me at risk, so I had to put our safety first and chose to stop working. I’ve been doing some modifications around the barbershop to put some safety measures around social distancing so hopefully I can reopen in the next couple of weeks. Thankfully my landlord has been very understanding and kind with my rent.

We’ve been hit hard financially, with my partner Sophie also not working in her childcare job. Just as our savings almost dried up, the government JobKeeper payments kicked in and has been a life saver to keep us going for a bit. We are still thankful for a roof over our heads and the time spent with the boys. A kind friend gave Xander a bicycle a couple of weeks ago and it was great to be able to teach him how to ride. I am looking forward to going back to work and seeing my customers again too.” Fred