Cabin Fever with Nancy Oliveri
Social distancing guidelines have changed how we navigate in public. Our personal boundaries have exploded outward from our bodies, and walking past someone on the sidewalk has changed from a forgettable encounter to a breach of personal space. “Too close”, a limit previously measured in inches or feet for most of us, is now measured with a yardstick, preferably two of them if someone isn’t masked up.
In her new book The Space Between, Nancy Oliveri has turned this sense of heightened boundaries into the impetus for a new body of photographic work, shot over the course of ten weeks beginning March 1st: “With the safe distance of a 200 mm lens I was trying to understand the impact of universal, cultural, political and historical forces on ordinary people during an extraordinary time. In the past I rarely enjoyed photographing strangers; it felt invasive to shoot from a distance and artificial to ask permission and miss the natural moment. The protective face masks and social distancing guidelines created a perfect opportunity for me to photograph strangers with the anonymity of the masks which protect their privacy.”
Nancy Oliveri, Two Men Walking, 2020, photograph. Image courtesy of the artist.
Nancy Oliveri, Pink, 2020, photograph. Image courtesy of the artist.
Nancy Oliveri, Shopper, 2020, photograph. Image courtesy of the artist.
Nancy Oliveri, Pigeon with Glove, 2020, photograph. Image courtesy of the artist.
Nancy Oliveri, Smoker, 2020, photograph. Image courtesy of the artist.
The Space Between by Nancy Oliveri
Large Format Landscape Hardcover, 52 pages, 13 x11 inches, printed on matte Proline premium paper.
ISBN 9781714873173
Available on Amazon.
