HISTORIC England has revealed the images from across the West Midlands that have been added to the Historic England Archive as part of the Picturing Lockdown Collection, now freely accessible online.
This follows a national week-long call out where the public were asked to share images that document their experience of seven days in ‘lockdown’ from April 29 to May 5, which resulted in nearly 3,000 submissions.
The final collection of 200 images consists of 100 public submissions, alongside more than 50 newly commissioned works by ten contemporary artists, including Black Country-based photographer Anand Chhabra.
The Historic England archive holds more than 12 million records of England’s historic buildings, archaeology and social history.
It includes photographs, drawings, reports and publications from the 1850s to the present day, covering the whole country.
The public call out received an overwhelming reception from across England, with 2,984 submissions received over the seven days.
The submissions give a fascinating insight into people’s experiences in this unprecedented time.
The concept of emptiness featured strongly, especially through empty high streets, roads, public transport and skies, while the frustrations and loneliness of social distancing also came across strongly.
Alongside the public call out, ten contemporary artists from across England were also asked to produce images documenting lockdown during the seven days.
Anand Chhabra’s series of portraits aimed to capture the changes in attitude and daily life he encountered during the week.
The artists were each asked to select their favourite public submission from their region and Chhabra chose an image of a poster depicting Bruce Forsyth with a twist on his catchphrase taken by Birmingham resident Telly Vision.
“I have chosen the picture taken of Bruce Forsyth and nice two metre, two metre nice! I think it’s the one image that caused an emotive reaction in me.
“It’s great because of the humour of the image uplifts you. It also speaks of the Brummie humour as well in tough times.”
Full Collection: · 100 public images: https://photos.app.goo.gl/VLNxpVH5cLc61dL6A · Artists’ images: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Rd4HvAAiXEthQDvQ8
Historic England photographers’ images: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ozTjohAV2V4bpm1v8
