Still Life | When we stayed home – works in isolation

‘The truth is, I’ve been travelling all year. Around my home.

To my kettle at least seven times a day. Around my sofa picking up children’s bricks and doll-sized tableware. Watching moonrise out of the bathroom window.’
 
Jessica Brinton’s introduction to the Hole & Corner book, Still Life – When we stayed home, which documents the lives of 54 of our contributors during the three months of lockdown in spring 2020, highlights the ordinary moments of an extraordinary year. The spring lockdown was particularly felt by the crafters, makers, photographers and writers, whose usual creative lives were put on hold, their work confined to their homes and their hour-long daily walks. For many, it was a moment to pause and reflect, to focus on a personal project, learn something new, or to reimagine old ideas. Our senses seemed heightened by the impact of the pandemic, the relentlessness of the daily numbers of hospitalisations and death tolls, the anxiety we felt for our families and friends around the world.
 When Hole & Corner founder and creative director Sam Walton put out the call to the magazine’s creatives to submit work, there were no rules or restrictions, just a desire to collect work that represented their everyday lives in this unique moment in time. 
 While some of our contributors had the privilege to make constructive use of their time, we are acutely mindful of the negative impact that lockdown had on the lives of so many, which is why we are donating 100% of the profits from this book to Refuge.