I was approached by Monash University to develop a participative concept that would acknowledge the rights of passage lost with the 2020 lockdowns. 500 students responded to a creative survey which generated a metaphor for what lockdown felt like for them. The survey drew them in to a creative thinking process and resulted in a rich set of poetic metaphors connected to real experiences.

"Lockdown reminded me of a perfectly flat, empty landscape filled with fog."
"Lockdown was an ocean. I was floating trying to help those where drowning."
"During lockdown I felt like I was tumbling in a fetal position with my arms wrapped all around me."
"If lockdown were a landscape, I'd be in an eternal abyss or black hole, time arbitrary, the world seeming to come to a complete halt.”

20 students were then chosen to come into the studio to work with photographer Sarah Walker and a rigger to capture the essence of their poetic statement.