love in the ruins (thermal photographs), 2020

love in the ruins; sex over 50 is an ongoing portfolio of images begun when I turned 50 and my husband was 62. At a moment when fear of contagion and body temperature have become inextricably entwined, a new form of surveillance appeared in public spaces; the taking of body temperature. Our internal temperature becomes yet another data point for collection and we have little control, if we want access to public spaces. At the same time body heat is part of sexuality and our sensations of intimacy and connection rely on the heat exuded by other bodies. During the Covid lockdown I began experimenting with a thermal camera and took a set of photographs for this series.