Diverse experiences of the pandemic are being showcased at Sheffield’s Millennium gallery in an exhibition which opened on Friday night.
“Stories from the Pandemic” features endless tales of love, loss and solidarity which unfolded across the city during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Mike Fitter from Broomhall, Sheffield, who contributed his story of losing his wife Gina to Covid, said: “Some people think you have to get over grief, but someone very dear to you dies, they don’t just go away – that grief is always there.
“But the grief is not always depressing. I like to use the metaphor that the it will stay within me, but I somehow grow around it.”
The exhibition, which opened on 24 February, is a collaboration between Compassionate Sheffield, social enterprise Opus and Sheffield City Council.
Moving accounts of pandemic life are arranged across the exhibit, which is furnished as if it was a lockdown house, complete with hand sanitiser and a stash of toilet rolls.
Cllr Paul Taylor, Head of Customer Services at Sheffield City Council and coordinator of its Covid memorial activities, said: “It’s not just about loss, it’s about how the community came together and how everybody found a way through it, and all of that is captured here which is brilliant.
“We don’t want to lose the bonds the community formed with each other during the pandemic.”
The masses of stories collected will be stored in the city’s archives, and some will be incorporated into a new memorial set to be unveiled on the second anniversary of the UK’s first lockdown (23 March 2023).
The sculpture, designed by architect George King, will be on display at Balm Green Gardens close to Sheffield City Hall.
It will commemorate the lives lost to Covid and the efforts of those who worked to keep the country safe during the pandemic.
Nick Deayton, Programme Manager at Compassionate Sheffield, said the pandemic may have faded from some of our memories, but the lessons learnt have changed society forever.
He said: “We’re stumbling into the next catastrophe with the cost-of-living crisis, and I don’t think people have properly healed from the pandemic.
“I hope people feel encouraged and inspired to do the small things that make a massive difference to people’s lives, and that sense of collectivism and compassion built in the pandemic will see us through.”
Sheffield City Council and Compassionate Sheffield’s joint Covid memorial work has so far included more than ten community exhibitions, film screenings and food events across the city.
It has also facilitated up to £2000 of grants made available to community groups and organisations.
‘Stories from the Pandemic’ is free to enter at the Millennium Gallery until Sunday 5 March.
