Life Under Lockdown Exhibition

This exhibition is currently on show in the museum forecourt and features a series of images by local photographers, Craig Colville and Carwyn Rhys Jones.

The images capture some of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown on the local community in the first few months of the crisis.

Craig Colville

Professional photographer, Craig Colville, had been working with Wrexham Museum on Wrexham 2020, a photographic project recording life in the county borough inspired by the great photojournalists Philip Jones-Griffiths, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Dorothea Lange.

The announcement by UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, on March 23rd of the lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic meant that Wrexham 2020 has proved to be no ordinary year.

Craig Colville said: “Documenting how Covid has impacted on life in Wrexham has been a challenging but a very rewarding experience. From photographing staff at Wrexham Maelor donning layers of PPE on the hottest day of the yea to the enthusiastic work of the volunteers at PPE HWB, I hoped to document how everyday life has changed dramatically over the past few months.

Photography is an often overlooked tool to document, inform and storytell and can be used to hold people to account. I hope that my work does all of the above.

I’m really looking forward to seeing some of the images from the project on
display outdoors at the museum as I think outdoor displays are a great way to showcase photographic work to an audience.”

Photo credits (left to right): Together – Black Lives Matter protest, Bellevue Park, Wrexham, 07.06.2020 (©Craig Colville), Physiotherapist, Wrexham Maelor Hospital, 25.06.2020 (©Craig Colville), Beyond the Rainbow, St Mary’s School, Wrexham, 2020 (©Craig Colville)

Carwyn Rhys Jones

Early on during the lockdown, Wrexham Museum, became aware that local photographer Carwyn Rhys Jones was also trying to record the impact of the pandemic on Wrexham. Staff at the museum invited him to join the project and so provide a wider record of the lockdown.

Carwyn Rhys Jones said “I started taking photographs during the lockdown as I felt that it needed to be documented as it would be a part of our history. I was sitting in the house and felt that the world had suddenly stopped and I felt that I needed to explore what was going on in Wrexham on my daily walks.

From photographing the empty streets of Wrexham the project developed to documenting the local people of Wrexham. The project developed from
strength to strength to what we have today. I was trying to achieve a visual
diary of what was going on and how people were feeling about this pandemic from their positives and negative experiences. I agreed to be involved in this project as I felt it went hand in hand in what I was trying to do which was documenting history. I also always wanted my photographs to be part of an archive that would be kept for future generations to learn about this particular time of history.”

Photo credits (left to right): The Police officer, Rhosllannerchrugog, 2020 (© Carwyn Rhys Jones), People queuing at the supermarket, Wrexham, 2020 (© Carwyn Rhys Jones), People or Planet? Wrexham, 2020 (© Carwyn Rhys Jones)