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Through the Looking Glass: capturing a community in lockdown
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Senior Lecturer, Carole Evans, used the first UK lockdown to take photographs of her neighbours through their front windows, with their permission of course!
Carole began the project, titled Through the Looking Glass, back in March, a week after lockdown was announced in the UK. While walking down the street, she happened to see a neighbour in her front windows so stopped to chat and say hello.
While they talked, she watched the reflections of the street in her face. She felt this was a beautiful metaphor for how everyone was feeling; isolated, trapped in four walls, the outside world a mere reflection. The glass provided a barrier between them, and yet at the same time allowed them to communicate safely.
She used a WhatsApp group to ask people on the street if they would like to be photographed, and the response was overwhelming. People were glad of a reason to dress up and for those who live alone it was welcome company for a short period of time.
Carole Evans kickstarter
Carole Evans kickstarter
Carole Evans kickstarter
Carole Evans kickstarter
Carole Evans kickstarter
Carole Evans kickstarter
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Kickstarter campaign
Carole has launched a Kickstarter campaign to have her photographs published in a book for the entire community to enjoy. Commenting on this, she said:
"The book is a way of commemorating this community. In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic has been very difficult, but the positive for me has been the return to old-fashioned values where neighbourhoods and community are concerned.
This book is important for the people who are in it; we were together and supported one another during this time which will go down in history. The book needs to exist in order to tell this story to future generations; this is what it was like living through the Coronovirus pandemic."
