The Story behind the Portrait

This picture is of a colleague of mine whilst he was on his smoke break. It is part of a wider micro-commission looking at the theme of ‘care’ in these pandemic times. I have worked in the health and social care sector since finishing university and have great admiration for people who dedicate their lives to others.

Working long hours for little pay there is a saying everyone bands around “you don’t have to be mad to work here but it helps’. I feel this typifies the ability to give yourself up for an intangible reward.

I have wanted to create a body of work celebrating those I work with for a while and made an attempt at this a few years ago. This stalled until recently when having the backdrop of a pandemic would give greater meaning to the work. Heart of Glass, an arts organisation in St Helens close to where I live were looking to support artists to create work when all work had been cancelled. It is through their commission I managed to begin the work again.

What gave further drive to the work was the idea that there is still a sector of people working as normal, not furloughed, not self-isolating, but putting themselves in the way of risk. These people are the healthcare workers and it only shows their dedication to the vocation.

I wanted to create a series of portraits interspersed with environmental images and found media such as documentation of the systems care homes are using to shield themselves from the virus. This work will eventually be compiled to give an overview of how care homes and their staff are coping with the threat of infection.

I wasn’t actually on shift when this picture was taken. The task of stopping people when they are busy from 8am until 8pm to make their portrait was proving difficult so I arranged to visit the home when I knew people would be getting their break. I kept the camera on the tripod and as Alan smoked pressed the shutter. Whilst some portraits in the series are more formal, I feel the candid quality in this image gives a greater insight into the mood of care staff.