Pandemic Self-portraits

Estelle Woolley

“Through my practice I explore ways that we work with or against nature; how we react and intervene, and how nature responds back at a domestic level and beyond.”

At the beginning of the initial lockdown Estelle Woolley returned to her family’s farm in Cheshire (UK), finding nature therapeutic and inspiring in adverse times. She was commissioned by Chester Virtual Bandstand to create a series of pandemic inspired facemasks from foraged, natural materials. These were collected from her daily walks, where she has been homing in on her immediate surroundings, paying close attention to the plant life coming in and out of season.

The materials chosen are collected with a sense of purpose. A colourful rainbow meadow represents the amazing work of the National Health Service during the pandemic; Dandelion clocks delicately parallel the invisible nature of the virus spreading; Nettles and thistles remind us to keep our distance otherwise there will be consequences. Plants act as a natural filter; they give us oxygen so that we can breathe through them; they give us life. The masks also aim to question whether the spread of the virus is nature’s way of retaliating and teaching us to care for our environment more, to slow down and pay attention to the world.

The images have since gained a lot of national and international recognition, from being featured on the front cover of The Sustainability First Art Prize where she gained Highly Commended, featured in The Wales Arts Review, selected as Axis art highlight of the week, selected as the poster image for the Ty Pawb Open Exhibition, and featured in the New York Magazine, and the Danish newspaper Politiken. She won first place in The Art of The Mask exhibition with Bluegirl Gallery, and gained the Ty Pawb Open People’s Choice Prize. The self portraits have been exhibited both online and in New York, Denver, Miami and London.

Instagram: @estellewoolley