Checking In

Description

Make up artist Ashley Regnier and curator and photographer Dwayne Morgan have collaborated to present a photograph series titled Checking In. Together, they consider the potentially overlooked emotional toll brought on by pandemic. Born from the check-in, a ritual of care, Dwayne acknowledges the potential for vast changes in one's experiences and response to them from moment to moment in times of isolation, illness and death.

Ranging from chaos to emergence to happiness, each person depicted in the photographs was asked to chose an emotion that expressed what they were feeling and attribute a colour to that emotion. Ashley then interpreted that emotion onto the faces of each participant, adding another layer to the complexity to facial expressions in a time when face-to-face interaction was at an all time low. 

Checking-in with one’s community came as a result of mandated physical distancing and the concern for another’s well being whether it be their mental health, ensuring loved ones had necessary supplies, and to combat loneliness. A large, interactive writing surface is available onsite and invites participants to share their feelings with community. Let’s check-in, how have you felt over the last two years?

Image description: Dwayne Morgan and Ashley Regnier, Checking In, 2022. Photograph.