The project takes as its point of departure the ongoing loneliness debate, which in many ways has come to amplify the very “problem” it’s trying to solve. Loneliness has become something we’re ashamed of and deny, something we keep “behind closed doors”. This takes us ever further away from the fact that loneliness is a natural feeling telling us something about our need for closeness and connection to others.

Perhaps the biggest challenge with loneliness today isn’t loneliness in itself, but the fact that it’s so hard to talk about, how we as a society and individuals relate to loneliness and the lonely; the taboo of loneliness. I feel it’s more important than ever to look at how we meet loneliness, because I think this is at the very core of the issue, and where true change is possible.

Behind Closed Doors draws a parallel to another feeling it’s more known that we meet with much of the same alienation, shame and taboo; sexuality. I present loneliness as something perverted, deviant and shameful that we displace and hide from others, to point out the absurdity in how we relate to and discuss this feeling. The circumstance comes in the form of a “fetish wall” with a series of fictitious instruments to simulate close contact with another person, giving the beholder a sensation of peeking into the intimate, private, secret and forbidden about loneliness.

I hope to create reflection and debate around how we relate to loneliness and the lonely, a more nuanced debate and relation to this feeling, tear down some of the taboo to create more openness and acceptance, so that we may easier meet this feeling both in ourselves and in others.