Picture project captures slice of Midland life in lockdown

IT’S certainly one way to stay safe in strange times – even if you are just stocking up the fridge.

The bizarre picture of a man in a hazmat suit was captured in the

West Midlands as part of an Historic England’s Picturing Lockdown Collection, which is now accessible online.

The public were asked to share images that documented their experience of seven days in lockdown from April 29 to May 5. It resulted in nearly 3,000 submissions from across England.

The final collection includes work by Black Country-based photographer Anand Chhabra who took a picture of Jaminder Hayre in the Penn Co-op in Wolverhampton. Mr Chhabra said: “I was photographing the queues outside my nearest supermarket about a few hundred yards from my house and saw this guy there with really what I considered over-the-top protection clothing for going shopping. “I followed him and started a conversation with him about his amazing Covid-19 outfit and asked him he didn’t mind having his photograph taken.

“He didn’t he said he gets stopped a lot and people film and have his photograph taken in other supermarkets.

“He said he can’t take any risks with his health as he recently had major heart surgery recently and is worried about getting the disease.” Louise Brennan, Director of Midlands Region at Historic England said: “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.”

Go to historicengland.org.uk to see the images.