PROFESSIONAL photographer Senem Peace has captured young dancers in lockdown for a mental health awareness project.
Senem, from Wilmslow, spent two weeks photographing the dancers in front of their houses, on their driveways or in their back gardens for Project Hope.
Senem Peace
She said: “Like everyone I had lots of plans and hopes for 2020, but we all found ourselves in this unusually hard situation that we couldn't have imagined.
“Fear suddenly became the main actor in our lives; fear for our health and financial status, fear for the future and fear of not being able to see our loved ones again.
“Besides the physical health issues the pandemic has created our mental health is also being threatened.
“People already struggling with mental health issues found themselves having to deal with this new stress of the lockdown, including the youngsters.
“As a photographer I wanted to do my small part in supporting the community in the situation we all are in.
“So I decided to convert a future photography project of mine and fit it to the current climate; this is how Project Hope came to life.”
Project Hope is a non-profit initiative to create mental health awareness and raise money for the Mental Health Foundation, and anyone who would like to donate can visit gofundme.com/f/eqbw34-project-hope?
Senem added: “On Project Hope I photograph dancers in lockdown, and want to create a positive perception about the situation we are in.
“There is always hope - there is always a joy in life, so I thought photographing dancers would fit perfectly in presenting this.
“As a photographer, dance doesn't only fulfil an artistic expectation, but also gives me hope to overcome challenges that tie us down.
“It is fascinating to see how the hard work of a dancer results in such an elegant outcome.
“When we feel alone, and facing with struggles, I believe the dancer can inspire us for progress. I'm trying to express this with the photographs in this project.”
Senem adhered to social distancing during the project, and is now focusing of photographing professional dancers. She thanked everyone who supporting the project.
Most of the dance students are from Aspinall Academy of Dance in Wilmslow, as well the Sue Morris School of Dance at Alderley Edge and Sophie Dee School of Dance at Cheadle Hulme.
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