Stunning photographic exhibitions capture life in lockdown

Published on 24 June 2021

Two stunning photographic exhibitions are on display as part of ‘This Time, Last Year’ – Frankston City’s multidisciplinary art exhibition, time capsule, celebration and memorial all rolled into one.

The exhibitions were previously on display at Frankston Arts Centre, but moved online due to the recent temporary closure of the Centre due to Coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

Jenny Rusby’s The Year We Stayed at Home features heartfelt images exploring the simple beauty and importance of family and connection in a time of isolation.

Ms Rusby said while 2020 may have been stressful, it was also a unique time of closeness for families, adding: “The aim of The Year We Stayed Home was to capture that closeness at home, where we spent so much time, so we can remember that unique time together.

“Families were gifted the sessions for free in exchange to committing to do at least one act of kindness to pay it forward into the community. It’s my hope that you’ll look back at these portraits in the years to come and remember that year, The Year We Stayed Home.

“Remember how difficult it was, yet how communities came together to get through it, how families were given the opportunity to stop what they were doing and spend quality time together. To remember that closeness we felt in our homes,” Ms Rusby said.

Ms Rusby is an award winning storytelling photographer based on the Mornington Peninsula.

Lisa Atkinson’s All Dressed Up, Nowhere to Go captures the glamorous moments we missed in a life in lockdown.

Ms Atkinson said: “Not long after the start of the COVID-19 lockdowns in April 2020, what started as a fun little idea for socially distant photoshoots among a small group of close friends, turned into a large scale photographic project, All Dressed Up, Nowhere to Go.

“As word of mouth spread through friends and social media shares, I ended up photographing over 70 fabulous women (and one man) over two months, with each subject getting all glammed up to venture no further than their driveways.

“The brief to each participant was simple – go as glam as possible, get creative with your theme and how it relates to your world in lockdown, and most of all, have fun!

“Each participant rose to the challenge with an enormous level of creativity, enthusiasm and humour, with many participants purely thankful for a chance to get out of their elasticised waist pants and feel something close to ‘normal’ after weeks of being housebound,” Ms Atkinson said.

Ms Atkinson is a fine art, editorial and commercial lifestyle photographer based on the Mornington Peninsula.

To view the exhibitions online, please visit https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL411w1yyxDx8WH1rfcrcaEg2MQbEdfX-w

Patrons can also catch Beth Lane’s A Series of Expeditions to Nowhere until 10 July.

Projected in the Glass Cube Gallery after dark, A Series of Expeditions to Nowhere highlights Ms Lane’s search of places to dance by taking an abstract lens to our local sites. Deep in lockdown, the daily routines suddenly seem extraordinary. Ms Lane is a recipient of an Artist Grant as part of Frankston City Council’s COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Package.

Supported by Council as part of its Relief and Recovery Package to help the community recover from the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic, ‘This Time, Last Year’ enables patrons to take a step back to this time, last year and explore the inspired vision of our community.

For more information, please visit www.thefac.com.au or phone 9784 1060.