Photo taken in regional Victoria to feature in exhibition documenting COVID across globe
A PHOTOGRAPH taken by a Trentham photographer will feature in an exhibition documenting life amid coronavirus across the globe.
Sandy Scheltema has travelled all around the world through her career as a photojournalist.
She has captured the very best and worst of humanity - from politicians kissing babies to the aftermath of genocide, child labour, soldiers, social inequity and injustices - and has always hoped her images have motivated people to act, or at least be aware of issues that we sometimes choose to turn a blind eye to.
So when coronavirus hit and the ensuing restrictions were put in place, she knew it was a snapshot in history that was vital to capture.
"As a photographer with a background in photojournalism, I felt it was so important to document these strange and unsettling times we are living in," she said.
"Images have such power to capture history and it often falls to photographers to bear witness and document history."
In order to do this, she decided to capture how people had adapted in her own community.
I wanted there to be a visual record here in our community for generations to come of the way our lives changed because of the coronavirus.
Sandy Scheltema
"I wanted there to be a visual record here in our community for generations to come of the way our lives changed because of the coronavirus."
Starting off with capturing individuals and families in her community in their driveways with items representing their time in lockdown, she then received funding to undertake a project called Life in the Time of Coronavirus, to broaden the project to Central Victoria.
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"For me to be working here in my own beautiful community on a worldwide issue - coronavirus - that can't be seen, and document how it is affecting people was a privilege and challenge for me," Ms Scheltema said.
Of the dozens of images she has captured documenting people's struggles and inspirations during the last few months, one has been chosen to form part of the pandemic program exhibition at the prestigious International Centre of Photography in New York.
The photograph is one of 1000 selected from more than 35,000 photographs captured around the world.
The ICP is the leading institute dedicated to photography and visual culture and has chronicled wars, social movements and disasters to build a historical archive for future generations.
The exhibition was inspired by the ICP's founding principal to champion "concerned photography" - socially and politically minded images that have the power to educate and change the world.
Ms Scheltema said it was what she had striven to do for her whole career so it was an honour for her work to be chosen.
When she heard the Australian Defence Force would be assisting staff with testing at the Kyneton Hospital, she knew it needed to be photographed.
Receiving permission from the hospital, she suited up in full protective gear, though found it difficult to try to capture her shots as the viewfinder would fog up.
The image that has been selected is of a mother, Lauren Kemp, receiving a COVID test at the Kyneton Hospital, as her daughter, Beatrix, looks on.
The test is conducted by a nurse, with assistance from an ADF member. Though he, too, is wearing protective clothing.
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At the time, Ms Kemp said the experience was as though she "had been in a war zone" because of the troops, yet it was the Macedon Ranges.
"I sometimes feel as though I've woken up in a parallel universe like a sci -fi movie," she said.
She, like many others, have been adversely affected by the virus. Her husband lost his job when Deloitte made 700 staff redundant earlier in the year and with two small children, she is anxious about what the future holds.
While nobody can visit the exhibition yet due to restrictions, the photos will be displayed online.
"Eventually, the returning public will be able to visit ICP to see a visual account of this tumultuous era," Ms Scheltema said.
Funding for Ms Scheltema's project was provided through Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria, as part of the Sustaining Creative Workers Initiative.
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