At the beginning of the pandemic there was a lot of talk of fomites, those objects whose surfaces could transmit the virus. People would leave their groceries in the porch for days before donning masks and gloves to scrub them down with toxic cleaning products. Turns out this was an unnecessary worry, however I am fascinated by the traces of the pandemic that remain as we return to some kind of normality.
I originally started my photo blog as a creative project for the lockdown, to add spice to my government-sanctioned daily walk. It wasn’t exactly King Lear (apparently written during a plague) but, for someone who spends their life working on other people’s creative projects, it was nice to have something that was entirely my own. Looking back at two years worth of photos it is curious to see what patterns emerge.
The following photos were not intentionally taken to document the covid-19 era, but traces of it can be seen—what we might call photographic fomites.
On the streets
26 March 2020. Glasgow’s main shopping destination, Buchanan Street, was deserted at the beginning of the first lockdown.
8 May 2021. What it looked like when ‘non-essential’ shops had re-opened.
26 April 2021. Enormous queues at Primark on the day it finally re-opened.
12 April 2020. Of all the graffiti artists to have taken the challenge of communicating the moment, The Rebel Bear, was my favourite.
1 November 2021. More of The Rebel Bear, with some additional commentary from a covid skeptic.
19 April 2020. Nature returns or perhaps we just start noticing it with less cars around. The sound of birds was heard in the trees and schools of fish were seen in the river.
19 April 2020. I used the lockdown as an opportunity to explore the city with the other waifs and strays. You were never far from one of these posters.
Stuck at home
12 April 2020. The hierarchy of situations to be in during lockdown was: countryside > house with garden > flat with balcony > flat. We had a balcony and Laura made the most of it.
6 May 2020. People started to go a bit stircrazy in their homes.
7 May 2020. A student gets an Amazon delivery.
21 November 2020. Early on, Zoom became the way to conduct meetings and classes under lockdown. Here is Laura doing yoga with top Ashtanga Yoga teacher, Laruga Glaser.
26 January 2021. A Deliveroo cyclist endures rain in order to keep the fast food economy going.
Social Distancing
12 April 2020. I remember taking this photo to document the absurdity of some of the lockdown rules. Three people meeting, even outside, was illegal at this point.
3 June 2020. You can just about see cycle lanes being added. It only took a global pandemic to realise that maybe cars should be discouraged.
13 June 2020. Queues at the supermarket to ensure people had plenty of space.
25 August 2020. We went to Rishi’s Indian restaurant on Bath Street to take advantage of Rishi Sunak’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme. There was optimism in the air that social distancing was ending. Although, as Emily shows, still plenty of hand gel.
2 October 2020. Exercise was still outdoors. Here is Zoe with a frisbee, the perfect socially-distanced activity.
Masks
9 July 2020. I add a broken mask to Jeff Koons’ Puppy in Bilbao.
27 July 2020. Masks were mandatory in Spain, even if you were doing something dangerous like going on a zipwire.
1 October 2020. The most visible signifier of the era were masks and visors. People love their masks and visors and the opportunity to express their identity.
20 August 2021. Pedro complies with the law to wear a mask outside, even when there is no one around.
20 November 2020. Santa gets masked up as Christmas is cancelled.
19 January 2021. Clyde the Thistle wears his mask under ‘level 4 restrictions’.
1 July 2021. The rise of the sunflower people, with their cards explaining how they are exempt from wearing masks.
5 April 2021. The day hairdressers and barbers could re-open.
15 May 2021. Rangers fans celebrate winning the league. Not many masks were being worn, but I did spot one guy.
26 May 2021. Laura in the Hydro to get her jab. Vaccination was the great hope to get everything back to normal.
8 June 2021. A couple holding hands, one wearing rubber gloves.
Policing
14 July 2021. A masked policeman arrests someone in St Enoch Square.
14 July 2021. Extras playing police in the forthcoming Indiana Jones film.
6 November 2021. COP26 protest. The red flags and the blue mask.
19 February 2022. A policeman removes his mask to make his message clear.
Protest
16 May 2020. The first lockdown protest was attended by about 12 people. My video of this guy went viral and was picked up by the Daily Record.
22 May 2020. Anger directed towards Wetherspoons for not paying staff.
8 June 2020. “The WORST Pandemic is RACISM”. The day after the Black Lives Matter protests inspired by the murder of George Floyd.
26 September 2020. The protestors took on the aesthetics of the ‘yellow vest’ movement in France, but with a conspiracy mindset.
24 April 2021. No one wants people to die but what does it mean to live?
2 November 2021. Stickers appeared asking people to question vaccines.
19 February 2022. The moves to implement vaccine passports seems to have subsided, but an increasing number of people are still protesting.
Now that the pandemic has become endemic and war has replaced it in the news cycle, it is right to ask what it all meant. Yet, two years on, it is becoming harder to work out what happened when. I am curious to know what you think of this collection of photos. Does it represent your experience? What is missing?
People walking in the road to avoid passing me on the pavement was not a good experience during the allowed exercise slot…. which of us had the plague ?!😂🤣
Enjoyed your account…well observed and documented.
Excellent photo summary of a depressing two years. At least there were some positives & some humour to be found. Unfortunately the latest news headlines have neither!
People walking in the road to avoid passing me on the pavement was not a good experience during the allowed exercise slot…. which of us had the plague ?!😂🤣
Enjoyed your account…well observed and documented.
Excellent photo summary of a depressing two years. At least there were some positives & some humour to be found. Unfortunately the latest news headlines have neither!