Image credit: Adrian Whear, Radar, 2020
Mass Isolation Australia
Ballarat International Foto Biennale
Curated by Shaohui Kwok & Amelia Saward
Mass Isolation Australia was created in the midst of lockdown in March 2020 to establish a visual record of the pandemic and quickly became a way to see the pandemic unfold through Australian eyes, and a source of connection and community in a time of social distance.
Mass Isolation Australia was created in partnership with FORMAT Photography Festival in the UK and the Gallery of Photography Ireland. It serves to document this momentous period and contribute to international conversations of isolation while providing a unique localised perspective.
The project invited the Australian public to share photographs of their experiences and observations through mandatory lockdown and life during isolation. Making use of digital technology and the social media platform Instagram, the project was made accessible to everyday image takers and professional photographers alike, establishing a multi-faceted and nuanced feed of this strange and tumultuous year.
The string of Mass Isolation projects were originally inspired by the 1937 Mass Observation project in Britain, where a team of observers and volunteer writers were recruited to study and report on the everyday lives of people in Britain.
More than 12,000 images were uploaded to the #MassIsolationAus Instagram project from photographers across rural, regional and metropolitan Australia.
The Mass Isolation Australia project was produced into a photo book with a sold-out print run of 300 copies.
READ the Mass Isolation catalogue essay
Mass Isolation Australia was created in partnership with FORMAT Photography Festival in the UK and the Gallery of Photography Ireland. It serves to document this momentous period and contribute to international conversations of isolation while providing a unique localised perspective.
The project invited the Australian public to share photographs of their experiences and observations through mandatory lockdown and life during isolation. Making use of digital technology and the social media platform Instagram, the project was made accessible to everyday image takers and professional photographers alike, establishing a multi-faceted and nuanced feed of this strange and tumultuous year.
The string of Mass Isolation projects were originally inspired by the 1937 Mass Observation project in Britain, where a team of observers and volunteer writers were recruited to study and report on the everyday lives of people in Britain.
More than 12,000 images were uploaded to the #MassIsolationAus Instagram project from photographers across rural, regional and metropolitan Australia.
The Mass Isolation Australia project was produced into a photo book with a sold-out print run of 300 copies.
READ the Mass Isolation catalogue essay
SELECTED PRESS
Radio/ Podcasts
- Inside the Gallery Podcast, Season 2 Episode 4, 29 April 2020
- ABC Radio National Sydney, Afternoons with James Valentine, 7 April 2020
Print
- Mathew Westwood, “Isolation of the Nation”, The Weekend Australian Review, 8 May 2020
- Michelle Smith, "Ballarat International Foto Biennale's mass isolation projects finds a mass audience on Fed Square screen", The Courier, 5 July 2020
- Jordyn Beazley, "Mass Isolation project a connection in times of 'COVID norm'", The Age, 21 August 2020
- Elizabeth Flux, “Mass Isolation Australia: This New Photography Project Is Documenting Life in Lockdown, and It Wants Your Photos”, Broadsheet Melbourne, 12 May 2020
- “Mass Isolation Australia – capturing the nation amid the Covid pandemic”, Guardian Australia, 22 Sep 2021
