Photographer Rafael Pavarotti was in London when the lockdown was announced back in March. “I spent the first 30 days in quarantine with my friend in our apartment, as we decided to stay together for the lockdown,” he says. “At first we had plenty of plans for when everything would be over. As the days went by, the news only got worse, the supermarkets got empty and an atmosphere of panic immediately spread between people.” As a result he chose to return home and find sanctuary in Brazil instead. “It all touched me really badly to the point of giving me anxiety attacks, so I decided that I needed to come back to Brazil and stay quiet at my own place,” Rafael continues. “Here things are not better at all, the president is genocidal and has been giving a speech on national television asking people to get back to their regular lives, while thousands of people are dying daily.”
Trying to find new ways of creating imagery, Rafael has been collaborating with stylists remotely. “They send me clothes by mail to photograph on my friend that is with me,” he says. He’s also finding himself taking on all the different moving parts of a shoot: “I have been immersing myself in roles that I didn’t use to take before, as normally I work with a team. I have to try and do makeup, styling, art direction, create images, produce… everything. However all of this process is not completely new for me, as before knowing anyone in the industry, at times I had to play all of these roles when I started photographing.” Beyond this, he’s been reacquainting himself with other creative mediums — “I'm painting a lot, creating notebooks of memories with collages, which I loved doing in my childhood, making videos and drawing” — and lots of cooking. “What I've been creating the most lately are delicious cakes,” he says.
As for what’s keeping him sane:“Watching movies, taking care of my plants, receiving love from my girlfriends and Facetime-ing with my family,” and thoughts of reunions on the other side. “I want to take a flight to see my grandma and my family,” Rafael says. “I wanna give them so many kisses and hugs and then take them all for a swim in the river. Celebrate this absurd faith that we have in each other, that is what has dragged us through time, and for the eternity of creativity now.”
Credits
All images courtesy Rafael Pavarotti