RTÉ

Throughout the months of lockdown, Ayesha spent her time down in the countryside of Galway on her grandparents' farm. Isolation here is in many ways the norm. However, not even her grandparents were prepared for the level of complete isolation that the past few months have brought upon them. Ayesha has seen first-hand the toll that it has taken on her grandparents. The social aspects of their lives were central to their joy and sense of fulfilment in life. Having observed this, Ayesha felt it was important to document these aspects of life at the moment in the best way she knew how - through photography. She decided to photograph her Granny doing her daily activities such as knitting, crochet, walking, etc., against the backdrop of these abundant natural landscapes which surrounded them.

Ayesha feels that she and her grandparents have been blessed to be so close to such natural beauty and this experience has been very healing for all of them. For this reason, Ayesha felt it was necessary to include these natural elements in her images. She decided throughout the creation process to photograph these scenes in an almost unorthodox way, utilising irregular angles to create striking yet candid-looking images. She also decided to weave some abstract photographs of the surrounding nature between the images of her Granny to highlight the harsh reality of isolation and the raw and bittersweet side of that period of time.