Brian O’Connell

Brian’s Lockdown Story

‘The inspiration for my piece came from my mother. My mother sadly passed away around two years ago but she had kindly given me a large box of embroidery threads, it is these that in a strange way keep me connected to her even though her physical presence is no longer with us.

I think [lockdown] has made me examine what is truly important, that we live in and are driven by materialistic society that seems to place value on possessions rather than on personal connections. Even now when we are not out of this awful pandemic, the rush for shops and bars to open is disheartening, rather than just allowing time to breathe and let society revisit what is important to us.

[My creative project] has driven me to sit and think and enjoy one’s own company. My husband had to leave London as he has a serious lung condition, and as the work I do could mean that he could become infected, it gave me time to enjoy and reconnect with art as a therapeutic process.

I see the creative process in a different light then I did before, it has allowed me to not rush to complete something that it is ok to just do [in] small steps. As with other aspects in life it is ok just to breathe, take a step back and “say that’s enough for today tomorrow I may do more or I may not.”‘