Aliz Kovacs-Zoldi

Photography - BA (Hons)

Photography for me is about transformation, whether it is light into an image or a woman into a mythical nymph. Photography is about never ending change.

The purpose of this project, The Journey Within, was to help achieve closure to a period of uncertainty, anxiety, and lack of creative drive that defined my life in the past two years, as well as to open myself to growth and possibilities going forward.

My practice focuses mostly on studio portraiture and draws inspiration from the world of mythology and spirituality. I work digitally to create composites with a surreal hint. This time I decided to turn the camera on to me and create a series of self portraits that depicts both my inner conflict as well as how the care for plants has helped me through confinement.

I came across a theory in Joseph CampbellCampbell’s book A Hero with a Thousand Faces, which explains that all hero myths and stories share the same stages regardless of their origins, and that these stages revolve perpetually. I found that the challenges I faced in isolation echoed the stages detailed in this book, so I decided to use it as a guide to create a narrative series about my experience during lockdown.

I see the pandemic as a personal challenge as well as a collective one in which we are heroes of our own stories having jointly embarked on the same journey.