As a photographer and digital artist, I was able to advance my career to the West in 2019 thanks to Adobe. At first, I believed everything would be smooth sailing as now I have an oversea 'credential' to be used locally , but real life never works that way, and a worldwide pandemic broke out.

I remember watching the news reporting about it in my grandparents home in Alor Setar and thinking it wouldn't hit Malaysia but then after a month, things went south - when pandemic cases started to rise locally, movement get restricted, and my outdoor photography jobs eventually gets delayed or pushed back.

Due to movement restrictions, I began working more with my collection of old photos and used Photoshop to create something new by combining various elements from the past. This allowed me to vent my displeasure and worry via artwork. Even though I am unable to travel outside of the place I am in, I continue to create and even look for ways to photograph covertly.

The onset of the pandemic marked the beginning of significant changes in both my behavior and subconscious mindset. As movement became more limited, I slowly transitioned from traditional photography to digital imaging and creative compositing, working within the limitations of the real world imposed by the authorities. Instead of photographing outdoor scenes some of my property clients started to ask me to do indoor shoot that could be done even during lockdowns.

Financially, I am grateful to my motorbike parts client - Cardinals Racing Malaysia at the time, and the young manager - VJin for bringing me on board with monthly writing as well as the salesperson - Jeff for accommodating my spontaneous burst of working style; as a result of them, my communication with the "old-fashioned boss" is much smoother, I could not make it through 2020 without my housemates, for helping me to share the cost of rent, and I even took up more space than them because I need more space to place my equipment and computer.

During this period of limitation, I also learned how to operate a drone on my own, which I eventually incorporated into my digital art-making process. In the series below, I journeyed through the highs and lows of the pandemic through digital artistic imagery, preserving my feelings and memories of those uncertain times, the people I met along the way, and the locations I got to see. The masks worn by the people in the artworks, which are only visible during that time, are one of the symbols. Aside from the moon, I've used toilet paper, uncut hair like a bird nest, the mask, struggling for vaccine, and my escape to a friend's birthplace in rural Selangor in my artworks.