Jacqui Kenny may have been diagnosed with agoraphobia in 2009, but that won't stop her from exploring the world. The photography enthusiast travels the streets of Morocco, Puerto Rico and Chile, all without leaving her flat. I met the New Zealander at her home in Fitzrovia to hear more about her unique technique…
Jacqui's chatty, friendly, welcoming as she explains that, thanks to Google Street View, she experiences exotic locales that she would struggle to visit in real life. Along the way, she creates dreamy images, which have led to 100,000 Instagram followers, a ground-breaking project with Lexus and a wider conversation around mental health, too.
Dealing with anxiety
“I’ve lived with severe anxiety for over 20 years. I wasn't able to get the help I needed because I was afraid to be honest about my feelings. The turning point came when, as co-founder of my production company, the stress became too much. I was having panic attacks, I couldn’t leave the office, I stopped going to meetings. When the company eventually folded, I realised I'd lost all confidence. My whole world was closed off.”
Finding a creative outlet
“As well as therapy, I needed a passion project to distract me from negative thoughts and allow me to be honest about the challenges I faced. So I set up @streetview.portraits. I’d trawl Google Street View exploring faraway countries from the comfort of my sofa, taking screenshots of beautiful scenes, editing them and uploading to Instagram.
“I love being transported to another place and finding extraordinary moments there. I would spend 18 hours a day on Street View, looking for natural yet surreal scenes that could be part of a film. There's a sense of joy in the ordinary, whether it's two people walking perfectly in sync or architecture lit up by the sun.”