Photographer’s Paper Mache Person Helped Combat COVID Isolation
During COVID lockdowns, artists stuck at home were forced to find new ways to exercise their creativity. For one photographer in Detroit, that meant creating a silly paper mache person and putting it at the center of a collaborative project done with other artists.
“So I did what I’ve always done when I can’t have something, and built a cheap copy of what I wanted. I created a paper cache person, who could fulfill my needs to connect with my friends and create photos, while still staying safe.
“[I] then had 18 artists make work with it over the next year or so, creating portraits while staying in all of our personal quarantine bubbles.”
In a strange way, the crudely made paper cache surrogate person brought a sense of connection during a time of isolation.
“The photos produced became oddly representative of all our complicated quarantine emotions, while still being a fun escape from the stress of the pandemic,” Henderson says.
Henderson and his collaborators ended up creating roughly 130 images throughout the course of the project. They subsequently published an 84-page book titled its nice to see you.
“The project ended up taking 2 years to get through everyone and to get the book done, but it was crazy rewarding and really filled in the gap left by COVID for me and I hope the others,” the photographer says.
The book is available for $25 through Playground Detroit. You can find more of Henderson’s work on his website.
