The Lockdown Diaries
In March, 2021 during the Coronavirus Pandemic and during the second national lockdown imposed by the UK Government, I asked a handful of people if I could take their portrait and ask them, ‘How has the pandemic affected you?’ I spoke with a variety of people from hairdressers and tattooists and internationally famous DJ’s and first responders. The idea was that maybe one day I would have enough entries to make a book or a zine. Maybe one day I will but for now here are a handful of entries from my time shooting The Lockdown Diaries
Norman Cook 2020 is probably the first summer Norman has spent in Brighton since he was 21. It was great at first - he got to spend lots of time with his kids and kept himself busy and creative dropping a weekly mixtape which helped locked-down listeners tally off another week in quarantine. ‘Then...’ Norman tells me, ‘...as the winter months rolled in it just all felt a bit turgid, y’know?’ To help get through the last few months Norman has enjoyed working at his Big Beach Cafe and looks forward to when the community around Hove Lagoon can safely open back up again. Norman still plans to hold a free event for NHS staff and key workers to thank them for their hard work and selflessness during the pandemic, hopefully in November (fingers crossed).
Nat Kossyvaki / Nat is studying for a degree in Anthropology at Sussex University and was in the second semester of her first year when the first national UK lockdown was announced. ‘I think my reaction and my friends were that it was quite funny, now that I’m thinking about it, because we were happy that the first year was already over.’ Now in her second year, Nat faces the reality of trying to study for a degree as an international student during a global pandemic. ‘It’s tough. I’m behind on my work. Half of our lectures are live Zoom’s and half are prerecorded with an allocated Q&A after. I can’t help but think about my time at university and how I struggled to apply myself to what was a 90% practical degree without the added distractions of political, social and racial unrest, oh, and the minor issue of a global pandemic stopping students from physically attending their courses. ‘Some international students are still paying their full Uni fees (£24,000) despite the fact that we don’t have access to the campus.’ Despite everything, Nat is grateful that she got to experience a semi-normal first year of university life as an international student. Nat hopes to continue her studies, maybe in journalism or media but is also aware that the post-pandemic world that awaits her after graduating is uncertain at best. “Nothing is in my control everything is uncertain at this point and that is what stresses me the most. I’m hoping that the pandemic is over soon or gets better so I can start having hope for my future.”
Dolly / ‘We were handed the keys to our new studio on the 12th of March and a week later the first lockdown was announced.’ Insert sucking a lemon face emoji here, I thought. Dolly is a tattoo artist in Brighton and was just about to open her new studio, The Dollhouse when her plans were intermittently interrupted. ‘We did get to spend a lot of that lockdown redecorating the studio which was great - even if we had no idea when we would get to use it.’ The Dollhouse, which Dolly owns and runs with her friend and fellow artist Georgina Langford, ‘...was created with the sole purpose of creating a safe space for people to be their most authentic selves.’ Explains Dolly, ‘Too many times tattoo artists have made their clients feel uncomfortable, feel like they don’t belong, like they speak freely about how they feel. I finally have a space to work that feels like home, and I hope my clients feel the same way.’ I often wonder how I ended up covered in so many tattoos myself because this was also my own personal experience of most studios when I first started getting tattooed - The Dollhouse is a welcome step forward in eradicating that culture. ‘We were sick of the grey area in tattooing, where you’re self-employed but you still kinda have a boss. I got into tattooing for lots of reasons, but mostly because it was a place where I thought I’d have the freedom to be myself. Turns out that’s often not the case when you’re working in a studio where you don’t make the rules. With beauty and self-care shops currently due to open back up in England on the 12th April, pandemic wedding planning and TV boxset binging will be relegated back to after hours and weekends - but Dolly knows there is a while to go before her work life returns to anything near normal, ‘I just look forward to getting back to a place where I can tattoo people without PPE or ridiculous glasses on! Do you know how difficult it is to tattoo someone in that stuff?!
Isobela Lugosi / ‘What about over there? By the green shutters?’ Bela has developed a bit of an eye for this - and quite rightly so having spent the majority of her time during lockdown learning to photograph. Before picking up a camera Bela modelled ‘as an actual job’. She really missed shooting when the first lockdown hit in March of last year - also, she wanted some, ‘cool, sexy, content to post on the internet. That said, it wasn’t the most glamorous of starts. After being unceremoniously dumped by her then partner during Lockdown 1, Bela was more upset that he asked for the camera back that he had previously gifted her. ‘So you’re dumping me and taking away my only hobby?!’ Bela bought the camera from him as she was leaving his house and less than a year later has honed her craft as an incredible portrait photographer. ‘My favourite part of taking peoples photos is when they look at the picture and they’re like, “Oh my god is that me?”, and I haven’t edited it, I’ve not changed who they are, I’ve just captured them in the beauty that I see, that they can’t see in themselves.’ She enthuses over a voice note to me a week or so after our walk and talk. Photography wasn’t the only thing that Bela picked up over the last twelve months. Like many who found themselves single and stranded during the first lockdown, Bela started a new relationship. ‘I was bored as fuck and had the horn - and lockdown was starting to ease so I could see a future.’ Her first date with Michele was a video chat - something myself, Bela and no doubt hundreds of thousands of other people also now have in common with their current partners. ‘Literally I read the fact that he was Italian and a chef and I’ m like, say no more!’ Bela and Michele were dating for around a month before they moved in together. ‘It’s really great - and hopefully when we’re out of lockdown it will be even greater!’
Jimmy Higgs / “We didn’t even get to talk about the ambulance stuff!” Jimmy’s right. We met two hours prior and after a coffee, cake and a walk back up to the old ambulance station in Elm Grove, all we’ve talked about is Jimmy’s early childhood, how his old boss at a restaurant opened his eyes to Buddhism, his time living in New Zealand, and a hilarious trip to Japan JUST as Covid-19 was becoming a household name. We’re here because Jimmy is a paramedic. Jimmy is fascinating. “I’ve learnt through Buddhism and ambulance that people want to be listened to so thanks for listening man!” Jimmy tells me in voice note a few weeks after we met. “When the virus first started it was just a clusterfuck for everyone - not just the ambulance service, for wider healthcare and internationally as well.” As bad as those first few weeks were, Jimmy is quick to point out that this isn’t the first time he’s seen this as a first responder. “It’s not like we went from everything being peachy to everything being broken.” Jimmy is referring to the last twelve years of Tory austerity, “You see people who have had their social care cut off, their mental health services cut off, people who have been waiting too long for operations or can’t get through to the GP.” It has been widely reported how the Government have mismanaged the last twelve months and Jimmy talks me through how he had cut himself off from all outside news regarding the virus to just focus on internal policy on how to manage patients as a way to keep sane. “It’s only now that I’m coming up for air that I have time to be angry at the government for the corporate manslaughter of 100,000 people. Despite his frustrations that chance meeting with a Buddhist restaurant owner all those years ago have helped shape Jimmy’s obtuse and cheery outlook on his current situation, “You get to see all of these unpleasant things but you’re experiencing them from a place of compassion -and Buddhism is about compassion!” I begin to smile as I can hear the tone in Jimmy’s voice change, “I mean, imagine getting a quarter of a million quid truck full of toys to go and help [someone] out with!”
Jonny Wright / “And errr... How have the last twelve months been for you...?” I’m slightly more nervous asking this question today. I’m nervous because I’m asking a father of a (fairly) newborn baby, and not having any children of my own, I’m never quite sure if parents are grateful for all this quality time with their kids - or if they’re counting the days until normal service resumes. “As a new parent, the last twelve months have been a bit of a rollercoaster”. Whilst I might not be a parent, I do have something in common with Jonny, we are both freelance TV producers, and knowing just how precarious my work life has been over the last twelve months, I can’t even begin to compute how tough that would have been with the added pressure of a newborn baby. “When (the TV industry) shutdown I kind of scrambled through a sense of unknown fear that I wouldn’t be able to support my wife and kid, so I opted to become a Hermes delivery driver - which was an eye-opening experience.” I am simultaneously floored and gifted perspective. “I did that for about two months and have a lot of respect for the lifetime delivery drivers.” Thankfully, Jonny is one of the parents who does see the upside of spending extended time with his family. He happily tells me about the privilege of seeing huge milestones in his son’s growth and development - a luxury usually reserved for just one stay-at-home parent. “...if it wasn’t for the pandemic I could’ve been in south America or Australia or wherever TV usually takes me. But It’s been like a forced maternity leave. I’ve been able to hear his first words, see his first steps and encourage him to take more steps - which is priceless.”