Midlands photographs chosen for historic lockdown collection
Eighteen images taken in the West Midlands and East Midlands have been added to an archive that shows life in lockdown. .
Today (June 2) the Historic England Archive has revealed 18 photographs from the region which are part of 100 public submissions. They can now be viewed for free online as part of the archive.
Photographs were taken across the region including in Birmingham, Nottingham, Newark, Shrewsbury, Smethwick and Sutton Coldfield.
It was the first time the public had been asked to capture a moment in time to be saved in the Historic England Archive since the Second World War.
Nearly 3,000 photos were submitted from people across England after this week long call out for submissions, after the public were asked to share photographs that documented life between seven days in lockdown (from April 29 - May 5).
The 'Picturing Lockdown Collection' now features 200 images, including 100 public submissions, and 50 commissioned pieces of work by 10 artists - who were also asked to produce images documenting lockdown.
One of these artists is Anand Chhabra, a Black Country based photographer.
Bella Milroy from Chesterfield were also commissioned to take photographs for the collection.
The artists were also asked to choose their favourite public submission from their region.
Anand Chhabra chose a photo of a poster showing Bruce Forsyth and a twist on his catchphrase. It was taken by a 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."
Bella Milroy also chose an image from the East Midlands photos.
She chose a photo of shopping - bag of oranges - being washed with soapy water. It was taken by Steven Murray in Chesterfield.
"It had a really powerful visual domestic presence of lockdown to the image, and I really liked the way something so familiar like household fruit could become abstracted in this scene, capturing these new household practices of lockdown. I think it will be a powerful and important addition to the archive."
"The fascinating response to our Picturing Lockdown call-out sheds light on our collective and individual experiences of lockdown and provide a snapshot into this unusual time that will be accessible for future generations to see and learn from." "Our thanks go out to all who submitted their work, to our contemporary artist Anand Chhabra, and to our photography team who have produced an inspiring range of images."
Other images in the collection can be viewed here.
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