This series of photos was created during February 2021.

February felt like a pivotal period to me. Long lines of people were being vaccinated. Washington appeared to have survived an insurrection.

Of course, pivotal means transitional. And transitions are confusing.

It’s not clear where we are transitioning to. Everything seems off-kilter. Feelings of vulnerability mix with optimism. It’s unclear how things will fit together. Each day people talk about how quickly things could collapse, or how quickly we could emerge stronger than ever.

Last year when Covid-19 struck, we moved from the known and predictable to the unknown. Many of us scrambled into our homes, a place we could control. We established a world that made sense to us. Our homes became our fortress against the unpredictable.

These days, I see more and more people tentatively peeking out, as if emerging from their homes after a storm or a war. Is it safe? They talk about letting in the outside world bit by bit - carpenters? care providers? indoor dinner parties? Is it too soon?

This project, shot entirely in my house, explores this fragile phase of the transition. It contemplates the necessary but precarious balancing act of letting the world back in while preserving the safety of our sanctuaries.

Sandy Sugawara

February, 2021