COVID-19
The Covid-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on all of us, transforming the way we live, work and socialise. In 2023 Open Eye Gallery and Cheshire West and Chester Council worked with residents and communities from across the borough to reflect on this time and preserve their thoughts for future generations in a project called Covid-19 Reflections.
Artists and photographers worked with different communities to capture their experiences in four themes. For the ‘lost voices’ theme, Open Eye Gallery commissioned me to work with individuals in rural communities whose stories were seldom heard. I worked with a range of individuals from farmers to business owners as well as young people, who were probably more affected than anyone.
175g of electronic devices
1 tbsp of loneliness
3g of food
1 ½ tsp of FaceTime calls
Method
Sift the loneliness into a large bowl and add the FaceTime calls and the food. Bake for 20 days. And repeat.
Talking about the pandemic with this group of young people in Malpas was challenging because the majority of the group would have only been 9 or 10 years old at the time. Others in the group said that they were ‘very sad’ during the lockdown. We used drama exercises to open up the subject of the pandemic and to find ways for the group to talk confidently about themselves. We were also exploring the creative opportunities that the subject offered for the group as young theatre makers.
Restaging or talking through those tasks gave us a vivid picture of what life was like during the lockdown, but it also gave the group some imaginative scope for their drama work.
In one part of the project I worked with a young person’s drama group in Malpas to hear from the younger voice. We dramatised many of the ideas that originated from conversations and many of the sessions were improvised including the short poem based on a recipe for the pandemic by Olivia, aged 12:
When we couldn’t see each other, we sent messages:
U alive?
Help me
How are U doing?
I’m bored
What R U doing?
Can U call now?
Nice 2 C U through yr window 2day
Please reply back
“First of all when you started hearing about it, you could see it getting ever closer, coming from China across to Italy but I wasn’t too worried as we were secure in our little island that we were in. Then, obviously when it came into the country, the worries arose but we never quite envisaged how much it would impact us.”
Richard Blackburn, farmer
Whilst some felt particularly isolated in their setting, others felt their industries were protected through initiatives like the furlough scheme. The project has resulted in three artworks: a photographic series co-designed and produced with young people from Malpas and individual rural farmers, mirroring their day-to-day experiences of lockdown, a video piece representing a range of collective rural voices, and a newspaper bringing the whole project together.
“It was just the strangest, weirdest feeling and I don’t think you’ll feel that again. And the word ‘pandemic’. I studied nutrition at uni and we talked about epidemics and pandemics, but you never ever thought you’d be in a pandemic. Very strange.
I don’t really know any other words to
describe it really.”
Claire, Healthbox, social prescriber
Right: Pop up exhibition at the Malpas Community Centre and the young people standing in front of their work at the opening of the exhibition at Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool.
