Seeking to express the experience of being a 78 year old woman living alone far from children and grandchildren during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, I took the risky and frightening leap into self-portraiture. With the support of an ongoing critique group and inspiring teacher, I struggled to capture internal feelings through gesture, the way a body is composed in a particular space, at a particular time, to explore not only the sadness of this time but also the experience of growing old. I have called the collection of images Solitude. In the process I have grown not only as a photographer but as an older woman to find strengths I did not realize I could reveal.
