Drawing Together

In October 2023 all those involved in Cheshire West and Chester's Covid-19 Reflections project came together to share the work created. Illustrator Gill Smith joined us to live scribe the event.

This beautiful illustration really captures the exciting and uplifting event. It marked the culmination of this creative response to the pandemic in which artists and photographers worked with communities across the borough to capture their experiences.

Participants in the Covid-19 Reflections programme had got so much out of taking part in their individual projects but seeing them come together brought a sense of pride and community in being part of something incredibly meaningful.

"This is your project, it's all about you," said council leader Louise Gittins. Shehas shared her feelings about the pandemic in a podcast for the Reflections programme.

"Every single community had people volunteering to look out for each other and went over and above," she said.

“When I look back, that’s the thing that will stay with me. And that has continued, that sense of community. A lot of those new groups have continued.”

Artist Jayne Lawless worked with residents in Ellesmere Port on various projects, including producing the illustrated book, A Dog Called Bear. Resident Deb Jones was central in the Ellesmere Port project. After taking part in a sketch club led by Jayne as part of her programme of socially-engaged work, she went on to set up her own. When Jayne said "the thing I am most proud of is the legacy," it's Deb's club and the book, which is now available to buy, that she's referring to.

The efforts of a group of seven to 11 year olds in Ellesmere Port is highlighted in Gill's illustration too. The Drama Droplets are a children’s theatre group who came together at Theatre Porto to create and share a performance as part of our Covid-19 Reflections programme. Their mission was to create a Great, Big, Little Parade – the result of their own reflections on the pandemic.

They designed, built and decorated large puppets for the parade, including huge smiles, honey bees, pizzas, clouds and flowers – the little things that they decided were important to them.

Connection through stories was the focus of Filament Projects, who worked closely with Vivo Care Choices and their service users to create their Covid-19 Reflections project, The Exchange. Vivo works with people with learning disabilities and autism as well as older people, including people with dementia.

Together, service users and staff explored their individual and collective experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic. Their stories were recorded and gathered in an audio installation based on an old telephone exchange.

"My hope is that people will learn about the community, hear stories and go beyond stereotypes," says socially-engaged photographer Ciara Leeming. Her work on how the pandemic impacted on the Gypsy and Traveller community resulted in a zine, Got Through It. Her work was part of the Lost Voices strand of Covid-19 Reflections, along with that of Sam Ivin, who created a series of portraits of carers whose often unpaid work was intensified during the pandemic. Photographer Tadhg Devlin, meanwhile, worked captured the diversity of experiences and views on life for those living rurally during that time.

Carmel Clapson, the public art lead for Cheshire West and Cheshire council, and Cathy Newbery, public art consultant and curator, have been busy working behind the scenes on the delivery of Covid-19 Reflections. At the sharing event, they took the opportunity to thank everyone who had taken part in the project.

"The breadth of variation in this project allowed different voices and experiences to come through," said Carmel.

For more information on the various strands of Covid-19 Reflections and the resulting work from artists and communities, visit our blog here.