Finding beauty In a time of pandemic

Welcome to The Beauty Project

Though difficult to define, we know when we’ve experienced beauty,

and that it can make a positive difference to how we feel.

I’d like to know more about what people have found beautiful since the start of the pandemic,

about what that experience was like and what difference it made to people’s lives.

I’d like this website to be a place where people can come and find beauty

even at times when chaos and loss seem overwhelming.

I wonder where you have found beauty in these past few months?

Do you have a story to share?

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Some of our stories...

go to 'Collection' to see more

I am usually one to walk quickly, keep my head down, and mind my own business; especially since on a previous visit to London I had my fair share of "interesting encounters."

As I was rushing about my business one day I bypassed an elderly gentleman struggling to make his way out of a restaurant, his hands full with his walking stick, bags of shopping, his take out and the heavy door. After going on a few steps I looked back and realised that he still had not exited to the pavement, so I turned around, pushed and held open the door and helped him to step out. He thanked me quietly, and although he was wearing a face covering, his smile was evident in the warmth and brightness of his eyes, and there was a beauty in the moment that arrested me.

I carried the look of his eyes with me for several days after, and smiled at the thought each time. The pandemic has perhaps given us more excuses to avoid these simple, helpful interactions; but people who are isolated need them more than ever; and their responses prove this.

I'm not really the kind of person who takes pictures of nature but I found the light on the beach that day so strange and beautiful that I was moved to try and photograph it. Although I ended up with such a dramatic photograph I love this picture more because it conjures a memory of the light and the beach that day. The pebbles were all turned pink and were damp from condensation, the sky and the air were so heavy.

I'm sure that the pandemic contributed to my experience that day. I had spent the majority of the lockdown inside, working towards my finals. Like most people I spent the lockdown self-evaluating, thinking about what I'd done so far with my life, what had made me happy and what hadn't and what I was going to do next. Perhaps I was moved by the beauty of that day of the beach because, for a time, I was freed from this kind of worrying. My sense of self dissolved into the scene.

Looking at it now it reminds me of Jim Ede's spiral of stones at Kettles Yard.
http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/handfulofobjects/spiral-of-stones/

The Beauty Project

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