A ground-breaking photographic project will chart the centre of Coventry as it emerges from the post-Covid lockdown.

Emerging from Lockdown: The Coventry Grid Project 2021 is a mass participation, map-based photographic survey of central Coventry – and it is looking for people to take part.

Open to all, the project will see local people chart a small area of Coventry city centre, capturing it as the Covid restrictions are lifted.

The resulting photographs will be exhibited online and an exhibition will be mounted at Warwick Arts Centre.

The city centre area covered by this project is small – less than one kilometre from Coventry Railway Station and spans the area from the Coventry Transport Museum in the north, the Cathedral and Herbert Art Gallery & Museum to the east, The Wave to the south and the retail market to the west.

The project has been guided by research by Professor Jackie Hodgson from Warwick Law School whose project team conducted interviews with 25 people in Coventry city centre in June 2021. Participants were asked about their loss of freedom and what their new-found liberty felt and looked like as they emerged out of lockdown and returned to the city.

Dave Allen, a photography and graphic design teacher is organising the project as part of the Resonate Festival, a year-long themed programme of public conversations, talks, exhibitions, film festivals, walking tours, debates and a family festival day organised by the University of Warwick, a principal partner in Coventry UK City of Culture 2021.

He said: “A photographic grid is a collaborative venture which aims to make a meaningful visual statement about an environment by adopting a systematic approach to bring to life what a place – in this case in Coventry – looks and feels like.

“We want members of the public who are interested in Coventry and possibly photography – but they certainly do not have to be photographers. The development of the smartphone has created photographers of all of us, and we want those to take part to represent that.”

People who are interested in taking part in the project are invited to free sessions this Saturday (10.30am and 2.30pm) at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Jordan Well in Coventry city centre, and on August 7 at 10.30am at the Coventry Caribbean Association in Spon Street.

For more details go to www.thegridproject.org.uk.

Emerging from Lockdown is a research and engagement project led by Professor Jackie Hodgson (Warwick Law School; Centre for Operational Police Research) in collaboration with Professor Jon Coaffee (Sustainable Cities Global Research Priority and Centre for Operational Police Research), Dave Allen (The Grid Project) and Doreen Foster (Warwick Arts Centre).

ENDS

29 JULY 2021

NOTES TO EDITORS:

High-res images available at:

https://warwick.ac.uk/services/communications/medialibrary/images/july_2021/dave_allen.jpg
Caption: Dave Allen, the photography and graphic design teacher organising the project as part of the Resonate Festival
Credit: Dave Allen

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Alice Scott
Media Relations Manager - Science
University of Warwick
Tel: +44 (0) 7920 531 221
E-mail: alice.j.scott@warwick.ac.uk

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Alice Scott
Media Relations Manager - Science
University of Warwick
Tel: +44 (0) 7920 531 221
E-mail: alice.j.scott@warwick.ac.uk