March 2020. After weeks of denial about the severity of the COVID-19 epidemic in France, public authorities suddenly implemented strict policies to restrict human contact and movement.

On Tuesday, March 17, 2020, faced with the exponential rise in cases, mandatory lockdown measures came into effect across the country.

The measures adopted to combat the health crisis were drastic: a requirement to stay at home; a maximum of one hour outside per day, within a one-kilometer radius of one’s residence; bans on visiting recreational areas; closure of “non-essential” businesses and social venues; a prohibition on gatherings.

Initially announced for a minimum duration of fifteen days, these restrictions ultimately lasted fifty-five days in total.

During those eight weeks, I left my home only a few times, solely to buy supplies. Shocked by the sudden turn of events, oppressed by confinement, and overwhelmed by the constant stream of anxiety-inducing images and news, the lockdown became a personal ordeal.

Infection curves, daily death tolls, critical care admissions, patient triage, shortages of tests and masks, conflicting scientific opinions, governmental denial, and errors: the pandemic heightened my anxiety to the point of paralyzing my ability to think and damaging my mental health.

The lockdown was lifted on May 11, 2020.

On May 13, I drove to Aisne, the department of my maternal family. A few minutes after my arrival, I rushed to the wheat and sugar beet fields I had wandered through since childhood. The sensation that swept over me at that precise moment was akin to a first summer swim after long winter months: a rebirth.

Finally free and exhilarated by this return to life, I walked those fields every day for several hours during the three weeks that followed. Cradled by the wind, warmed by the sun’s rays, soothed by the vast open spaces. Without COVID, without restrictions, without masks, without physical distancing, without anyone. Alone, outside.

The series “Alone, Outside” comprises thirty-seven analog photographs taken between May 13 and June 1, 2020, in the Soissonnais natural region.