i-D closed out 2020 with My Year in a Photo, a 12-month retrospective that brought in hundreds of incredible submissions from all over the world. We enjoyed it so much that from now on, we’ll be running it as a regular feature. At the end of each month, we’ll open our inbox to photographs from anyone and everyone — just email photography@i-d.co
This month we received almost 1000 submissions. And, as you can probably glean from the following two articles, we really struggled to cut this down. (View part one here). For anyone whose images did not make the cut this month, please do keep sending us your photography, as we’ve been overwhelmed by the quality of the submissions and want to keep sharing as much as possible.
Salma Olama, 22, Egypt
“Both of these photos were taken during the last few days of March during a one-day camping trip a couple of friends and I took in Fayoum. It had been a long month and we were all collectively looking for some peace. The wind was blowing pretty hard that day — and with barely any connection left on our phones, everything seemed comfortably static.”
Kiu Ka Yee, 29, Hong Kong
“The pandemic brings us all back ‘home’ to stay safe. That’s how we ended up in the same city, meeting up with each other.”
Mosako Chalashika, 26, Gaborone, Botswana
“The photo I took while filming a music video for my friend Larry Don Cap (for the song “267 ENDS”). The area that it was shot in is called Maru a Pula. This specific hood is a place that gave us many memories back in the day. That’s where I got to see my friend Larry don Cap grow as a musician and as a human being.”
Reina Kubota, 20, Tokyo, Japan
“Where I can bare my feelings.”
Jacob Pesci, 29, Chicago, USA
“Working on the West Side of Chicago, I watched as this group of young people I frequently interact with came marching out of an alley armed with a ladder found in the trash. I asked what they were up to, to which their response was ‘We are going up, you’ll see’.”
Xanthe Hutchinson, Leeds, UK
“March has definitely been the hardest month so far, but as the saying goes, it’s always darkest before dawn.”
Elvis “Q” Donkor, 24, Accra, Ghana
“Appreciating myself (hero) in the mirror.”
Raf Souliotis, 18, Karpenissi, Greece
“During a lockdown no one can stop me from imagining tomorrow, imagining a sea, even though it comes from a projector and I’m at home.”
Piera Moore, 23, Atlanta, USA
“Baby Orion. Jasmine, Orion’s mom, commissioned me for a shoot with her newborn that was born earlier this month. To me, babies can represent a myriad of beautiful things. Most often, I think of new beginnings and fresh perspectives when I see babies.”
Kaisa Saarinen, 24, London, UK
“This photo was taken at a Kill the Bill protest in Trafalgar Square, the day after the police cracked down on a vigil held in memory of Sarah Everard. Thousands of people came out on the streets to show that we won’t be silenced that easily.”
Kate Cha, 17, Toronto, Canada
“Cheeeeese!”
Abhishek Khedekar, 28, New Delhi, India
“I requested to photograph his face but instead, he unbuttoned his shirt. ‘You take a photograph of my body. Look at it! This kind of strength doesn’t come from going to the gym.’”
Arinzechukwu Patrick, 25, Accra, Ghana
“The boy with a painted face”
Roy Hong, 21, Xiamen, China
“This photo was taken at the beach, on a giant rock. I love the shape of the rock and the way it interacts with model’s body. Lying down on the rock and simply enjoying the sound of waves has become a luxury thing to do.”
Crina Fratean, 30, Tirgu Mures, Transylvania
“This is my little brother’s hand as he was going through the first AZ vaccine. He is in bed completely out of it and in pain at the same time. Looking at his hand I just immediately saw him as a kid again, just so helpless and out of his depth. He had a tumour some years ago and went through surgery, so seeing him like this brought that back.”
Moustapha Lamrabat, 37, Ghent, Belgium
“I never had it mentally this tough during this pandemic. Normally I can always see the light in the dark but this month was different. So I just took this darkness as my inspiration. The photo is darker than what I usually create. But it’s like a portrait of my own ‘meltdown’.”
Darcey Fleming, 20, Leckhampstead, UK
“Wearing one of my head pieces that I made out of recycled twines collected from my local environment.”
Olivier Cuvelette, 62, Paris, France
“For about five years, I’ve always had a camera with me. Walking in my city, Paris, or others when I travel. My mental image of cities is that they seem silent and wrapped in cellophane… I found this cityscape, in March, in the middle of Paris.”
Daniela Dib, 46, Sao Paulo, Brazil
“Like many other mothers, I divide my isolation time between taking care of my children and my work with photography.”
Elif, 17, Istanbul, Turkey
“This photo probably doesn’t look meaningful at all but I took this photo on March 20th, as we woke up to a disastrous morning. Our president had made the decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention to combat violence against women. I took this picture after a long run when it started raining around 2am.”
Steven Molina Contreras, 22, New York
“Life in March was filled with friends who became more of a family. A community of artists who share a common goal and who consistently push and stay alongside one another. In the streets, while we make pictures or at home.”
Maria Taralunga, 20, Bucharest, Romania
“I took this picture in my room, alone, where I spend most of my time thinking, meditating and studying. This picture is special to me, because I took it in a period when I got rid of negative things and people who made me feel low-spirited. I love that it turned out with a shade of green, because for me, green means rebirth, freshness and progress: things I resonated with in the moment I took the picture.”
Gerald Paul Emmanuel Kokra Iam, 26, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
“This photo represents my city Abidjan. It reminds me of the conversations, the smell of food being cooked a few feet away… The picture was taken around noon and it was about 80 degrees. This location actually refused to let us to shoot and I had to give them some money for a few minutes in front of their spot.”
Victoria Vanina, 26, Berlin, Germany
“The picture shows a club-goer at Mutabor Club in Moscow in March 2021 (yes, current local COVID restrictions officially allow the existence of the nightlife) standing on the empty dance floor in between DJ sets. Fully present, still, patiently waiting for the music to start playing. Because these days one can’t miss an opportunity like that.”
Ruotong Guan, 22, Hefei, China
“It is a photograph of the backyard of my grandparent’s apartment. It is where I used to play when I was a kid. It feels so nice to be back at this place.”
Kathrin Leisch, 32, Berlin, Germany
“The picture shows my grandma’s hand. She’s 93 and I’m more than happy that I had the chance to see her. The first time after about one year.”
Filipe Krug, 20, Indaial, Brazil
“To go out to uninhabited and forgotten places, where we can be free and pretend it’s just us in the world. To my friends, who are my chosen family and I feel safe with, I am thankful every day.”
Sam Devlin, 22, Ottawa, Canada
“I had a relatively slow March, my photo submission was taken while I was helping my friends move into their new apartment. After the whole day moving things we all fell asleep. I woke up on the couch before everyone else and noticed two of my friends sleeping together on one’s bed since the other bed frames hadn’t been built yet.”
Hannah Cosgrove, 22, Wicklow, Ireland
“I feel like the sea mist is in my head. I can’t see what the months ahead hold. When will we be allowed leave our 5km again?”
Antoine Fougere, 24, Seattle, USA
“The photo down below represents being present in the moment. At times we all need to reflect on our days and just enjoy each moment.”
Gary Clarke, 54, New York, USA
“It wasn’t until I took these photos from a ‘Save Burma’ event on March 27, 2021 in Foley Square, Lower Manhattan, that I was reminded of the atrocities occurring all over the world that include South East Asia. These photos signify that we, as a part of human civilisation, must do a better job to fight for democracy world wide. It is not just Black Lives Matters and Anti-Asian Hate, it’s an inherent love of power and oppression that causes injustices to all of us and we must strive to support and promote peace throughout our civilisation.”
Sarah Berglund, 22, Toronto, Canada
“Sitting on the docks at lakeshore, this was one of the last pictures I took before moving away at the end of March. I miss being with my friends the most.”
Kristina Yavorskaya, 22, Moscow, Russia
“In March my father Stepan turned 72 and recovered from coronavirus. I’m happy.”
Solanta Li, 23, Beijing, China
“I really miss the time when I studied in New York.”
Troy Fabroa, 20, Philippines
“March, my birth month. A month full of painting and sleeping. I sometimes think about my subjects (mostly cows), and I wonder what it feels like to eat grass for your whole life and not meet the horrors of breaking down at 2am because of your online class.”
Credits
All images courtesy the artists