Historic England archives lockdown photographs

(Picture submitted by Alla Bogdanovic)

The additions followed a public call from the heritage body for photos of the UK’s lockdown between 29 April and 5 May as part of its Picturing Lockdown collection.

More than 3,000 pictures were submitted as part of the project, and the call out was the first time the public have been asked to capture photographs for the archive since the second world war.

Most of the public submissions were from London ( 24%) south east England ( 18%) and the south west ( 14%). Eastern England accounted for 12% of the photos sent in by the public, followed by the north west ( 9%), Yorkshire ( 6%), the north east ( 5%), East Midlands ( 5%) and West Midlands ( 5%).

The images included those of healthcare workers and rainbows, leisure pursuits including baking, gardening, board games and zoom quizzes, and empty high streets, roads, public transport and skies.

Other photos showed home-made haircuts, street art, pets, children, life working from home and the natural world.

As well as 100 images from the public, 50 photos were commissioned from 10 artists, and the remainder were taken by Historic England’s photographers.

Claudia Kenyatta, director of regions 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.”