Alien domesticity: representing home during a pandemic

Area of Science:

• Cultural Geography
• Urban Sociology
• Anthropology

Background:

• Cities have been traditionally viewed as spaces of multiplicity.
• The COVID-19 pandemic confined individuals to their homes, intensifying domestic life.
• This study shifts focus from the city to the home as a site of complex social and emotional experiences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the home as a space of "lived multiplicity" during the pandemic lockdown.
• To explore the affective and emotional dimensions of domestic environments under conditions of prolonged confinement.
• To utilize street photography aesthetics to represent the multifaceted nature of home life.

Main Methods:

• A photographic essay approach.
• Borrowing aesthetics from street photography.
• Depicting the overlapping worlds within the home during the 2020-2021 pandemic lockdown.

Main Results:

• The home is presented as an "unfinished process" of "affective assemblage and dissolution."
• Images capture the lack of resolution and "messy emotional texture" of home life.
• The study highlights the dynamic and often unresolved nature of domestic spaces.

Conclusions:

• The home, like the city, can be understood as a space of multiplicity and complex lived experiences.
• Pandemic lockdowns revealed and amplified the multifaceted nature of domestic life.
• The photographic approach offers a unique lens for understanding the emotional landscape of the home.