The wallpaper hasn’t been changed since the seventies and I love the almost dizzying effect it creates. I was inspired by Rinko Kawauchi’s series ‘Cui Cui’. The subject of her pictures in this series are mostly everyday, mundane things, yet Kawauchi gives the pictures an airy, light feel. They also possess a slightly melancholy and an awareness of the passing of time, which I attempted to replicate in some of my pictures. 

Answer: I think it’s been very mixed, on one hand nature came back to polluted cities but on the other hand plastic waste from masks and medical waste has polluted the earth even more. I believe we need to connect more with nature, to respect this planet instead of the participating in this culture of constant over-consumption. I think that should work together to fight for change, rather than attacking people for political ambitions. We should work together and make our world better. 

Question 2: How has the pandemic changed your life?

Answer: I think the main takeaway from this pandemic, is that I learnt to embrace things that I used to take for granted. I realised that experiences such as hanging out with close friends, travelling around, the most trivial things, like having fresh air, they became so hard, they are not guaranteed, they are actually a gift in my life. So I would say Covid transformed me into a more grateful person, in the sense that I started to see things in a new light, I started to cherish every single moment that I can spend with my loved ones.

Question 3: What would you say to yourself if you could go back to before the outbreak?

Answer: I would say please, please spend more time with your grandparents. The situation in London is not getting any better, so I guess I have to wait for at least one or two months before I can finally book a flight ticket to go back to China. It has been a year since I last visited my grandparents and I heard that my grandfather, his health condition is not so optimistic, he has been diagnosed with recurrent cancer. So if I could travel back in time, I would urge myself to spend more time with them or at least teach them how to use video chat to make a video call to me, so that I won’t miss them so much.