Gene Delame's Lockdown Looks

Before the pandemic, I had already stepped back from the social media spaces that had carried much of my art practice. Public visibility had brought demands, assumptions and unwelcome attention into my daily life.

When I returned to Facebook, I used the name Gene Delame. This was a smaller and more private setting, connected mainly to people who knew something about me beyond my public work.

Then the world entered lockdown. Familiar routines disappeared, and a wardrobe became the material for a new project.

A reason to show up

Each morning, I assembled an outfit, photographed it and shared the image. Gene Delame's Lockdown Looks grew through that repeated action.

Getting dressed was an amusing starting point when there was nowhere much to go. The clothes did not need an occasion outside the house. Making the photograph became the occasion.

The project gave each day a little structure. It asked me to make a choice, attend to an image and offer something to the people around me.

This was not a demand that everyone respond to a crisis in the same way. It was my own practice of finding purpose within a restricted setting, using material I already had.

A smaller audience

The scale of the sharing mattered. I was less occupied with broadcasting a public artistic identity and more interested in maintaining a connection with a community.

Without the same pressure to explain the project to institutions or justify it through audience numbers, I could focus on the act itself. A daily offering did not need to be a grand statement.

The work also clarified a distinction running through Magic Muse. Difficulty chosen in service of a practice can feel different from difficulty imposed by inadequate conditions. The former may give structure and meaning; the latter can exhaust the energy required to create.

Gene's daily ritual belonged to the first possibility. I could choose to keep making the pictures because the process felt worthwhile.

Looking back, the project reminds me that a creative practice can change its volume. It can become quieter, more intimate and more sustainable without losing its significance.

An outfit, a photograph and a small circle of people were enough to make a daily connection.

In a period when the days could blur together, each image marked another decision to meet the day with intention.