Open Theme 1st place winner

PPE or Personal Protective Equipment is specialist equipment health workers wear to protect themselves from viruses such as COVID-19. This body of work was produced in the early stages of the pandemic and the lockdown.
Images of medical staff in hazmat suits inundated the media, making many of us feel anxious. While being in lockdown there was a global face mask shortage due to a need by health services and people outside of the medical profession.
Humans have been wearing masks for a millennium, they are truly ingrained in our primal psyche and are deeply rooted in folklore. Masks rituals occur throughout the world and seem to share numerous characteristics.
During the bubonic plague epidemic that swept through Europe. Plague doctors who treated the infected wore Personal Protective Equipment to protect them from infections. This menacing suit typically consisted of animal-like masks and was filled with dried scented flowers.
The PPE-19 project delves into the past and the present of PPE masks, from the bubonic plague costumes to the modern-day hazmat masks. This work was produced in lockdown and were all created in my apartment.

Aaron was the winner of The Guardian's 'Britain iS' competition and has previously completed four art residencies, which were all exhibited. Aaron has exhibited nationally and internationally with solo and group exhibitions. He has exhibited at several international Photographic Festivals. He works mainly on long term social projects and has been featured with various bodies and publications.

During the lockdown, he created work about COVID- 19, which has been well received. Parts of this project have been exhibited with the New Zealand photography festival in conjunction with Format. Also, in Italy with Creative in Quarantine, the Brighton Photo Fringe, Mass Isolation Finland and as well as being featured with organisations in the US, Australia, Europe and Guernsey.

Aaron is a member of the MAP6 Collective and has recently exhibited a large-scale social and historical interactive exhibition. The Voice-Vouaie exhibition was three years in the making and included 200 photographs, a film and an audio listening station where you could listen to recorded interviews. The work delved into the unseen world of the last Guernsey speakers of their endangered ethnic language.