Let me in, let me out…

Let me in, let me out continues to relate to life in ‘lockdown’…I suspect that it reflects my ambivalence to the current situation! On the one hand, I miss ‘normal’ life…but often reflect on what normal life is and what is actually a social construction dictated by society on how individuals, groups and nations ‘should live’.

I sometimes feel embarrassed to say that I’ve enjoyed this period of social isolation…the ability to throw the clock and the diary away and just be. I don’t have to be anywhere, I only require to eat when I’m hungry…although old habits die hard and there remains a semblance of breakfast, lunch and dinner! How we dress becomes irrelevant and the same clothes can be worn for days, weeks even! I went 4 weeks without washing my hair…and it was absolutely no different…in fact, it felt somewhat healthier!

I imgine that for all of us it’s different; some of us may feel that we are caged, unable to enjoy the life we always have; unable to see family and friends; we may be stuck in a house with little space and no garden to relax in – the house then may well begin to feel like a cage.

However, I feel that in this painting I have tried to accept that it’s okay to feel both things. It seems likely that lockdown will end soon and that we can hold on to the best of what we’ve rediscovered as well as return to the things we’ve missed with a new appreciation…hence Let me in, let me out…