New exhibition and Rugby Library highlights some of the untold stories of lockdown

A new art installation intended to explore residents' experiences of lockdown was unveiled at Rugby Art Gallery and Museum yesterday, January 17.

Creative company Arts Uplift CIC was commissioned by the county council to put together a series of exhibitions intended to tell the stories of lockdown.

One of these exhibitions comprises a cube - measuring around three feet across - which shows photographs and quotes gathered in interviews the artists conducted with residents across the county.

It is accompanied by a speaker playing extracts of the various interviews.

After being shown elsewhere in the county, the cube exhibition was moved to Rugby Art Gallery and Museum on Monday, where it will remain for residents to see until March 31.

The Advertiser attended to exhibit's unveiling and spoke with Jenny Davis of Arts Uplift.

She explained how much had been learned from the interviews - with the impact of lockdown on people across the county quickly becoming clear.

"We made a decision to leave out discussions over bereavements because this is being exhibited in public and we wanted to keep it sensitive," she said.

"But there was a lot of talk of people being broken-hearted over missing key family events like weddings."

Much of the discussion at Monday's launch event appeared to be consciously directed towards what were perceived as the good things to come out of lockdown.

This included a newfound sense of community for some, a slower pace of life and the adoption of new, creative hobbies.

Jenny said: "I think it's really important that we gather all this information now so we have these accounts preserved for the future.

"It's all raw now, and I think in ten years' time people will be able to use information like this to understand what happened.

"That first summer when lockdown began to ease many of us were starting to feel like it had all been just a bad dream - that shows just how quickly things can fade.

"There's already talk of the exhibition being taken to schools in the future. I think that's a great idea."

Pictures and quotes on the cube are divided into four categories by colour. Blue for sadness, orange for friendship and community, green for the rediscovery of nature and red for the NHS and other healthcare.

Learn more by visiting: www.artsuplift.co.uk/warwickshire-pandemic-stories