It might surprise you to learn that Victoria's glorious, wine-soaked Yarra Valley is, in fact, part of metropolitan Melbourne – so despite largely being literal farmland, it also falls under the current stage three metropolitan Melbourne lockdown.
As you'd expect, isolation out in the Yaz Vaz looks a little bit different than isolation in the big smoke. Local photographer Suzanne Phoenix has been documenting the region during this year's lockdowns, producing a series of isolation portraits of Yarra Valley families.
As you'll notice, Phoenix has maintained correct physical distancing protocol throughout the photos and almost all of them are shot outside. The series captured Yarra Valley households at their front gates, by their pools, in the paddocks or by abandoned farm buildings and features everyone from farmers (and their animals) to artists.
Speaking about the isolation portraits, Phoenix said: "I believe it is important to document the lives of local people at a grassroots level during this time for historical purposes. The project is also bringing the community together through different stages of restrictions over the past after being apart with very positive responses from the local community."
"It has also given me a different way of continuing with my photography work as Covid-19 saw my entire photography business cease with live music and events shut down."
The photographs have been captured since April 2020, and have now been installed in a "community exhibition". The photographs are being displayed in the windows of businesses in Upper Yarra so that locals can still enjoy the works when out for one of the four permissible reasons. These businesses include the Flying Apron Patisserie, Baroona Produce and Pet Supplies, Nancy's of the Valley and Yarra Valley Artisan Baker. Keep in mind that if you're not a local, you should not be travelling to the region unless absolutely necessary.
The households featured in the isolation portraits have also written about their isolation experience, which have been compiled into two self-published magazines alongside the photographs. To see the full photo series and the stories behind them, you can purchase the magazines online and you can find out more about Phoenix via her website.