To celebrate Coventry’s year as UK City of Culture, the University of Warwick – a principal partner of City of Culture – is hosting The Resonate Festival. Celebrating the power of creativity, conversation and connection, The Resonate Festival launched in May 2021 and brings a 12-month programme of inspiring and interactive events for people of all ages across Coventry and Warwickshire to spark ideas, curiosity and creativity. Resonate culminates in a grand finale – a three-day live festival on campus in April 2022.

Led by Warwick Law School’s Professor Jackie Hodgson (co-director of the Centre for Operational Police Research), with research assistance from Georgie Evans and Livia Mercusa, the project ‘Emerging from Lockdown’ has resulted in creative writing, a photo exhibition and a short film. All of which will be showcased as part of the Resonate Festival on Wednesday 16^th March at Holy Trinity Church in Coventry. The film will be shown alongside Paul Daly’s 'The Furniture of my Imagination', created in collaboration with Warwick Researcher Naomi Pullin as part of the 'Coventry Creates' commissions.

If you are interested in attending this event, book your tickets now on the Resonate Festival website.

Image Credit: Jackie Hodgson (left); Graeme Leng Ward (right)

The Project

Since March 2020, the UK has been in some form of lockdown, restricting our movement and our ability to meet with others in our homes, in cafes, bars and clubs, and outside. Taking as its starting point a series of interviews, this project weaves the words of Coventry people's experience of lockdown into a fictionalised narrative story, which, alongside images from a mass participation public photographic project, then became the film: Emerging from Lockdown. These collaborations explore how we have re-gained our Feelings of Freedom (or not) as we continue to emerge from lockdown.

The Interviews: Through interviews with 25 people in Coventry city centre in July 2021, the research asked how people have experienced the policing and legal regulation of a public health pandemic. How did this loss of freedom feel? What does their new-found liberty look like as they emerge out of lockdown and return to the city?

The Photographs: In the next phase of the project, Jackie partnered with The Grid Project, run by Dave Allen, to invite those who live, work or visit Coventry to take part in a map-based photographic survey of central Coventry over 2 weeks in August 2021. The photographs are displayed on the Grid Project page and in an exhibition at the Warwick Arts Centre held in November 2021 as part of the Feelings of Freedom festival.

The Creative Writing: After analysing the themes and experiences reflected in the research interviews, the responses from these interviews were woven into a fictionalised story, written by Georgie Evans - "Blinking in the Light". With a little input from Jackie Hodgson and the actor who would narrate the story, Bharti Patel, Georgie crafted a story that touched on many of the experiences spoken of by our interviewees. She captures the joys and the sorrows of lockdown life, and the anxieties of what lies ahead.

The Film: The film "Emerging from Lockdown" features Georgie Evans' story, narrated by actor Bharti Patel, alongside the photographs from The Grid Project. With input from Jackie Hodgson and Dave Allen, the film was produced by Warwick Print. The result is both moving and uplifting, bringing research findings to life through film and stories. We hope you enjoy it.

Find out more. https://warwick.ac.uk/about/cityofculture/artists-researchers/emerging_from_lockdown/