A film documenting the impact and aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK will be shown this week at Flowers gallery in London (23 March) and at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester (23-28 March).
The 33-minute work by artist Simon Roberts, entitled An Avoidable Loss, A Failure of State, marks the fourth anniversary of the first official Covid-19 lockdown in the UK which was introduced on 23 March 2020 (the first phase of lifting some lockdown restrictions began more than eight weeks later on 10 May).
“As we approach the fourth anniversary of the first Covid-19 lockdown, the film encourages us to contemplate the profound impact of the crisis. Exploring themes of grief, outrage, and asking critical questions surrounding the government's response, it offers an immersive experience that some may find deeply emotional,” a project statement says.
In the film, the voices of politicians who dominated the UK Covid-19 crisis, such as former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, accompany mortality figures shown across a coastal horizon. “There is light at the end of the tunnel; we know that together we can beat this and we’ve got to stick at it,” says Hancock in the film. The names of those who died are read out by the actor Rory Kinnear.
Relatives of the bereaved are also heard in the film, calling out the government’s “mismanagement of this public health crisis”. Last June, Johnson stood down as a Conservative MP after an investigation into the Partygate scandal—when government and Conservative party staff gathered in No.10 for rule-breaking bashes—found he misled parliament. At the UK Covid-19 inquiry held last December, Johnson said it was “simply not right” to say he did not care about people’s suffering.
Roberts tells The Art Newspaper: “It’s fair to say that I want this to be seen as a political work, not least because much of the anger and frustration felt by the families of the bereaved is a direct result of the government's actions, compounded by the insensitivity and arrogance of political figures within the Conservative party."
The springboard for the film is a series of photographs called A Daily Sea when Roberts took photographs daily on Brighton beach, looking out to the horizon, during the first UK lockdown. An edition of the final series of photographs (edition of five) from A Daily Sea—which depict sea views with a related text along with the daily coronavirus mortality figures provided by the Office for National Statistics—was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.