Pandemic Portraits by Nathan McGill

PANDEMIC PORTRAITS

Pandemic Portraits

Nathan McGill

Contents Preface ................................ 2 Tomasz Mikulski ................ 3 Mohini Howard .................. 5 Marlon Patrice .................... 7 Musurut Dur ....................... 9 Paul Thakoordin ............... 11 Mah Jabeen Bano ............. 13 Adam Carver .................... 15 Shaista Mukadam ............. 17 Asim Raza ........................ 19 Kashmir Loves ................. 21 Harish Chavda .................. 23 Deborah Broomfield ......... 25 Acknowledgements .......... 27

Nathan McGill (b.2000) is a Birmingham based collaborative visual artist who utilises the medium of photography as a tool to story tell the narratives of people and places. His photographic work is primarily analogue based and combines imagery with text to create a dialogue that encourages empathy. McGill seeks to work collaboratively with his sitters to ensure authentic participation whilst simultaneously highlighting the socio-political landscape of Western society. Pandemic Portraits is a collaborative visual storytelling project that captures the social implications of COVID-19 on individuals across Birmingham, UK. The body of work performs as a testimony to the participants lives and a record of life during a pandemic. The work began by collating a number of Birmingham based residents to create a dialogue about their lockdown experiences. Alongside this, to ensure the project was a collaborative effort – the participants selected a significant location for their pandemic portrait. Nathan McGill

Tomasz, in his garden. 2020.

Tomasz Mikulski, a 45 year old male whose native country is Poland - has been residing within the UK for almost 16 years. Due to his lack of employment prior to the pandemic, the series of COVID-19 lockdowns hasn’t hugely impacted how he lives his day to day life. Music, dance and theatre is a significant aspect of Tomasz’ entertainment and social life. So the closure of hospitality and entertainment industries prevented his main form of social interaction.

During the summer months, the garden is where Tomasz spent most of his time - soaking up the sun and enjoying the nature - until summer ended and the colder, winter months began to creep up. Now the weather has detoriated and further lockdowns have been enforced - feelings of loneliness are having a greater affect on Tomasz and many other members of society.

“ For me it was a very

transformational time. So, I was working a lot spiritually on my development, and I realised a lot of things because we were put into a very strange situation which we have never experienced before. This situation gives us a new opportunity to look at what you need, what you like and how we live our lives. - Tomasz Mikulski.

”

Mohini Howard is a mother, wife and chef. She has two children called Anna and Janak, and a husband called Dante. With a background in charity work and community engagement projects - Mohini now runs Adventures With Food. Since the lockdown began in March 2019, she has had to alter her food workshops to Tiffin Tuesdays. Tiffin Tuesdays is a collection service in which Mohini cooks vegetarian Indian food. She cooks all of the food from her household

kitchen, which is the heart of her home and the space where her family spend most of their time together. As lockdown begun, the frequent dinner’s with family and friends became a distant memory.

“This space is particularly

significant, the bridge by the river is the river rea, and that’s the start of any local walk for me. If I’m going on a walk, going to my allotment, meeting friends – I always go over that bridge, then I’m in the park. So that’s quite a special place for me. - Mohini Howard.

”

Mohini, Selly Park. 2020.

Marlon, Handsworth Leisure Centre. 2020.

Marlon Patrice is a business owner and wellbeing activist from Birmingham. For several years Marlon has managed his own herbs and wellness business. And most recently, in the midst of a pandemic founded his organisation We Go Outside Too.

community to venture outdoors in spaces of nature that they may not typically use.

As a community leader that is deeply inspired by the health benefits of nature - spending time outdoors during lockdown performed as a distraction to the Marlons organisation We Go Outside chaos of the world, but also a Too intends to bring the autheniticity healing mechanism to the trauma of of nature to the Black community as losing his son. a form of mental and physical wellbeing therapy. The organisation encourages members of the Black

Musurut Dur is a Community Organiser for a national housing campaign charity. She is deeply committed to creating an equal and just world because of her own experiences of oppression. Her pandemic portrait features herself alongside her two daughters Amara and Leyla.

“

to visit her hospitalised father and During Covid, I saw that people even had to push the hospital to were having to ‘stay at home’ in operate - otherwise they would have really bad housing, or in B&B’s or lost him. HMO’s and how difficult that was for them and their families. I became more aware of the problems people were having in accessing food and saw just how many more people were plunged into poverty because of losing their jobs or being The hardest part of the pandemic for furloughed. - Musurut Dur. Musurut and her family was her father being admitted to hospital with a bleeding on the brain. Musurut and her family were unable

”

Musurut, Leyla & Amara. Kings Heath, 2020.

Paul, at home. 2020.

Paul Thakoordin is a social worker primarily working with children for a therapy service. But ever since the series of COVID-19 lockdowns, Paul amongst many other social workers began to work remotely. He is of Irish origin, and has been living in Birmingham with his wife and children for almost 20 years.

meant they were able to spend the quality time that simply wouldnt have been possible if the pandemic didnt occur.

“ I think a lot of young people have

missed out on a lot. They are the section that are going to pay the heaviest price. Especially with the debt that our economy is going to incur. I really do worry about young people’s futures, my children’s futures and all the people that have lost their jobs. - Paul Thakoordin.

”

One of the most significant positives for Paul and his family was having his eldest daughter return from Edinburgh. Having their eldest daughter return for over 3 months

Mah Jabeen Bano, a trailblazing woman from South Yardley has been planting the seeds for her community to flourish – during, and before the pandemic begun. In 2003 Bano left her life in Pakistan to start afresh in England. Previously she had lived in Suffolk, but Birmingham is where her community work skyrocketed.

The organisation seeks to provide a platform for women to produce creative public art and overcome the barriers women in her local community face.

Bano’s vivacious and selfless personality is what makes her one of South Yardley’s leading community organisers. Since the From beginning her work for 50p pandemic begun she has been per hour, Bano now runs her own providing activity packs and organisation Khawateen Creative vegetable seeds to her local Minds. From Urdu to English, community; whilst working on a Khawateen translates to Womankind. series of public artworks.

“We are making two pocket parks

and two green spaces on George Road where I live - to bring people together and try to overcome those barriers and assumptions about different faiths and cultures. If we are living on the same road, then we are family. So we should be together, we should work together and we should stand by each other whenever is possible. - Mah Jabeen Bano.

”

Mah Jabeen Bano, Yardley. 2020.

Adam, Eden Bar. 2020.

Adam Carver, a performance artist, creative producer and cultural activist based within Birmingham. They work specifically around the queer community to highlight diverse contexts of queerness, fatness, community, empowerment and making change.

being utilised, it hasnt ceased the gentrification of the area. It has been in a constant battle with luxury apartment developers that pose a signficiant threat to the culture and nightlife economy of the area.

“ I just want to dance, like that’s the

main thing. I thought I was going to miss going to the theatre, cinema and stuff. I miss those things a bit, but in no way near the levels that I anticipated. What I miss are bodies on dancefloors, like being together, that communal feeling when the The Eden Bar is the first gay bar to music is just right and everyone is The Gay Village is the heart of close in the year of 2020, because of losing their inhibitions and dancing Birmingham’s queer community but the pandemic on top of the impact of in that kind of levelling space. also a space that is integral to gentrification. Adam Carver. Adam’s relationship to the city. Whilst the pandemic has prevented the clubs and community resources

”

Shaista Mukadam, originally from India but now living in Birmingham for 25 years - is a senior lecturer in Islamic Finance and Accounting. Her goal is to spread awareness about Islamic Finance and its offerings to the world of business, accounting and general life. For the past ten years Shaista has been researching Islamic Finance and writing up the course ready for its launch this year. The lack of social time, both with family, friends and work colleagues has impacted Shaista’s wellbeing.

She has missed those corridor and kitchen conversations and not being able to bring samosas which she did regularly. Whilst there is still time and space for regular coffee mornings via MS Teams - nothing beats the daily interactions with friends and colleagues as you walk through the university corridors.

“What I can’t understand in this

scenario is when it happened in Wuhan, Vietnam, Indonesia – how come those countries had such a better handling and grip on it and we haven’t. Why have the European countries gone so wrong? The first basic thing in a pandemic is you stop people coming in and out. Then you contain the pandemic. - Shaista Mukadam.

”

Shaista, Birmingham City University. 2020.

Asim, at home. 2020.

Asim Raza, a 27 year old Pakistani aslyum seeker still in a state of limbo due to the British asylum system dreams of finishing his accountancy degree and being able to marry a man. In 2018, Asim was attending University when he came out, left his arranged marriage to a woman and was disowned by his family. Since Asim’s visa expiration his life halted into isolation way before the COVID-19 pandemic begun.

In order to escape his form of isolation as an asylum seeker - Asim tended to travel frequently across Birmingham and England to visit friends. But since restrictions were imposed due to COVID-19 - all form of social interaction and travel was prevented.

“ Lockdown impacted me and

people that seek asylum, even though we are always in quarantine. But of course, we used to go out and there were gatherings. So, because of the lockdown we were not able to do that. It has been really hard for asylum seekers as we are already going through depression and anxiety. But we survived it. By supporting each other, that’s how we survive. - Asim Raza.

”

Kashmir Loves, Oldbury born and raised - is a first-generation Indian immigrant from the Panjab. Her pandemic portrait was captured on Century Road, Oldbury - the road of her family home. Live and let live, peace and love are Kashmir’s values. Century Road is where Kashmir’s heart is, despite it’s old-fashioned and unpicturesque name. Being in this space for her pandemic portrait brought all the best memories flooding back. The road was even featured on a BBC documentary to

celebrate the turn of the millenium. Since the pandemic begun, she had saved a shedload of money which Kashmir would have usually blown in the shops.

“ Even though there’s such a

discussion about Black Lives Matter today. I personally didn’t suffer any racism until my adult life when I was called the P word by a young child. And I was like, where have you got that, to be able to say that to me. My children have really suffered badly. So what does that say? We are absolutely mad passionate and we’ll fight racism until the bitter end. But I think a lot changed in 2016 when the Brexit vote happened, I think it gave people that right to getting our country back. - Kashmir Loves.

”

Kashmir, Century Road. 2020.

Harish, Kings Heath. 2020.

Harish Chavda whose native country is Kenya - moved to the United Kingdom when he was 12 years old. Now living in Kings Heath, Birmingham - Harish’s background is social work and mental health. As Harish is retired, the impact of COVID-19 on his work was non-existent. However it has significantly impacted the voluntary work he has been doing prior to the pandemic. Since Harish is on the vulnerable side he has had to

thoroughly protect himself the virus.

“ In a post-covid world I will go see

relatives in East Africa. That was Harish is a resident of Kings Heath, our plan pre-covid, to tie things up. and since the pandemic has seen the There will be some changes as well, community come together to support like being more careful to protect one another. For his street, Whatsapp nature. We always talk about it, but groups have been created to inform nature really is so powerful. One eachother if anyone is isolating or scientist estimated that if you struggling. The community came gathered all the virus in the world, together to support each others it is so tiny it would fit on a spoon. needs. That’s how much has permeated through the whole world, just a spoonful has caused devastation. So nature is quite powerful but we just don’t respect it. - Harish Chavda.

”

Deborah Broomfield is a brummie born woman living in Handsworth. She is a doctorate student at Leeds Beckett University researching Women and Planning. Handsworth park was the choice of Deborah’s pandemic portrait and is significant due to it’s focal point in Handsworth.

“

we are now in the midst of a third The party that’s in power. I’ve lockdown - Deborah is feeling much never seen them for the ordinary more aware of what to expect. person. And I don’t think that they can relate, the ones in the top seat of Many people during lockdown found power can’t relate to living on £90 a walking within nature cathartic and week, overcrowding, witnessing enabled them to discover themselves. constant fly tipping, worrying about However, for Deborah - this was how you’re going to feed your actually quite depressing. children. And I think because of that As a Black woman, Deborah found the whole handling of the situation the message about the has been handled with a bit of disproportionate implications of cynicism really. It’s about money, COVID-19 on Black and South conservatives aren’t a socially or Asian communities scary at first. But community orientated party. now the first lockdown is over and Deborah Broomfield.

”

Deborah, Handsworth Park. 2020.

Acknowledgements Pandemic Portraits, a photobook by socially engaged photographer Nathan McGill (b.2000) is dedicated to all of the keyworkers working tirelessly to keep our society functioning and to all the innocent lives lost as a result of this pandemic. With thanks to all of the participants for sharing their personal experiences of COVID-19 and the impact it has had on to their lives. Tomasz Mikulski Mohini Howard Marlon Patrice Musurut Dur Paul Thakoordin Mah Jabeen Bano Adam Carver Shaista Mukadam Asim Raza Kashmir Loves Harish Chavda Deborah Broomfield

Nathan McGill