Normally at this time of year, we reach out to a handful of photographers and regular contributors and ask them to submit a selection of photos under the heading: My Year in Photos. It’s a chance for the artist to look back and remember their year via images from their archive that may have otherwise gone unseen. (If you’ve never checked out the series before, find it here).
But 2020, of course, has felt very different to the years that came before it, and with that in mind, we wanted to honour this dramatic shift with a different perspective on the last 12 months. So we opened up submissions to everyone and asked i-D followers — be it a professional, amateur, or rarely-ever photographer — to submit a single image that attempts to encapsulate their 2020, if such a thing was possible.
There were hundreds of responses, from all over the world, and – sadly – too many to publish altogether. But we’ve narrowed it down to 100, 25 per day for the final five days of 2020. There’s tears, laughter, embraces, isolation, protests and moments of peace, that, without wanting to fall too deep into cliché, speak to a shared experience felt from Tanzania to Taiwan, Wuhan to the West Country.
Sonia Lupșa, 20 years, Bucharest, Romania
“I refused to see what was in front of me.”
Christoforos Kalantzis, 18, Plymouth
“Life isn’t always a straight line.”
Karl-hens Pompilus, 22, Brooklyn
“The only time that I felt free and was truly myself.”
Trang Trần, 28, Vietnam
“Healing process.”
Aislinn Murray, 19, Maleny, Australia
“I don’t know how to function in social spaces anymore; my mind and body feel clumsy when I try to be with my friends.”
Chinedu Nwakudu, 26, Atlanta
“This year to me was a reset, but this photo best speaks for me because I was protected by my Angels that kept guiding me.”
Luke Georgiades, 24, London
“I took this photo in Taipei around the first few months the pandemic hit — I don’t know the context, but for me, this photo, and their embrace, summarises that bittersweet feeling of distance and, in a weird, paradoxical way, togetherness, that we’ve come to associate with 2020.”
Masoud Mirzaei, 31, Iran
“And in the end, all I learned was how to be strong alone.”
Jimena, 19, Mexico
“I found companionship in loneliness.”
Jordi Carter, 21, Brighton
“This photo sums up my year because this year I became very aware of how complicit the UK has been in global issues, and this photo marks the beginning of a lot of protests that I and many young people have attended across the country to show our discontent.”
Jacob F-D, 22, Lincolnshire
“This was when I finally celebrated graduating with friends, embracing the cold new future that I had been incredibly anxious for; a photo of a friend that was beside me the entire time.”
Thea, 19, Germany
“Colourful, connecting mess full of potential.”
Stephanie, 23, London
“Mum seeing me for the first time after my gender reassignment surgery.”
Lewis King, 23, Cornwall
“Shaving my head was so freeing it felt like a complete fresh start for me as a new person and ready to achieve everything I’ve been afraid to.”
Tanaseth (Pong) Tulyathan, 20, Bangkok
“COVID hospital ward in Bangkok, Thailand, after testing positive on the fifth day.”
Robert Marco Detoyato, 38, Vienna, Austria
“Working from home since March has allowed me to witness how my children grow in ways I would’ve otherwise have missed if I were in the office.”
Paula Merget, 17, Munich, Germany
“When we couldn’t see a lot of friends or go to parties, two friends and I just met at home (legal in Germany back then) and danced all night and I feel like this photo represents this mentality of making the best of this shitty year.”
Thithi, 21, Tanzania
“This year was really all about self-discovery.”
Herald Stalin, 21, Manila, Philippines
“The silence of many is speaking volumes. There should be an end to hiding.”
Anouk Brouwer, 26, Tokyo, Japan
“I see myself very clearly now.”
Credits
All images courtesy of the artist