The Project

Jennifer Alice Acker and Brandon Partrick in the window of their loft.

originally published April 1, 2020

It all started because I was complaining. As I do daily living in the age of Covid-19.

“I don’t feel useful. I can’t use the few skills I even have to help all the people I know that are suffering. I’m not a nurse or an essential worker. I’m a photographer! What can I do to help? I can’t take pictures to make people feel better.”

“Why not?” my fiance Dan said, cooly.

“What are you talking about?”

And just like that, he gave me purpose again.

The Project: Isolated Artists of Atlanta. I would try to interview and photograph as many artists of all mediums as I could during and about their Covid-19 quarantine experience.

I would go and interview my artist/performer friends, their friends, that one guy I worked with on that show that one time, that dancer, that tiny door painter, and find out how everyone was holding up in the absolute bedlam that is Spring 2020. Think Humans of New York but Atlanta quarantine-style. So then the fire was set. I had questions to write, a camera to charge (since it hasn’t been held in almost 8 weeks), a spreadsheet to make, and people to find!

So I reached out to my buddies over at the Atlanta Artist Relief Fund to see if they could help. Did they want to host the posts? Did they want to make a promotional graphic and set up an online form where people could come and sign up to bare their souls?

Would people even sign up? Would they want to open up about their experience?

They did. And they still are and this project has given me more of a purpose then I feel like I have ever had.

I kept telling my close friends how I never understood why and how adults could have hobbies. “Who has the energy after a long full day of work to go do (and usually spend a lot of money on) something totally unrelated to their job?”

I understand now. All I want to do is photograph more people. I stay up into the early hours transcribing stories and editing photos. I’m spending money I don’t have driving all over the city and on online programs just to get this done and I will keep doing it. I could work all day at my stop-gap job in the blazing sun and still want to drive across town to talk to a stranger. That is how much this fills up my metaphorical cups. Not just my creative cup, but my social cup, my philanthropic cup, my care-giving cup. I feel like a fuller person. And when my cups are full, I can share with my friends who need a little extra in this crisis.

I love my job as a photographer in the entertainment industry. But this has the potential to be bigger than just me. This helps people I care about to be heard and seen in a time where we are all quite literally stuck and isolated.

And I’ve taken up the banner. I will try to tell as many stories as I can.