London in lockdown: Pictures of the pandemic

The UK’s first Covid-19 lockdown began in March 2020, changing the look and feel of London overnight. Photographers captured this bizarre new world, and how Londoners faced it.

Key location:

Across London

Key dates:

2020

  • A middle-aged woman wearing a surgical mask and a green coat, standing in front of a brick wall during sunset.

    From Spencer Murphy's Our Bullet Lives Blossom as They Race towards the Wall.

Life in lockdown

Masks. Empty streets. Queues for food and water. This was London when the government asked people to stay at home to prevent the spread of Covid-19, a pandemic which killed almost 227,000 people in the UK between March 2020 and May 2023.

Many people felt an impulse to document this strange time – the fear, anxiety and boredom, sprinkled with moments of joy and beauty.

In our collection, the work of three photographers – Spencer Murphy, Jemima Yong, Grey Hutton – show us frontline workers, community volunteers and a changed city from their own unique perspectives.

Spencer Murphy

Driving or cycling around the city in the first weeks of the pandemic, Spencer Murphy encountered people, places and situations that seemed like something out of a film.

“I actually started photographing before the lockdown was announced, when there was that nervousness in the air – I was trying to capture the mood of the moment.”

  • Three deer crossing a suburban road with brick houses and a red gate in the background.
  • A person in a dark jacket walks past a brick wall with graffiti stating "Make the rich pay for COVID 19" on a city street.
  • A weathered apartment building with cluttered balconies and a bird perched on the roof.
  • A man wearing a mask stands solemnly in a cemetery filled with gravestones, some decorated with flowers.
  • Overpass bridge with a red banner displaying "4000+ Preventable Deaths" over a highway surrounded by greenery.

His series Our Bullet Lives Blossom as They Race towards the Wall mixes portraits and street photography which feel both poetic and provocative.

The graffitied slogans, padlocked swings, looming tower blocks and deer on suburban streets give a sense of alienation, frustration and isolation.

  • Man with headphones and a patterned face mask carrying groceries on a city street.
  • A man wearing a mask and a black T-shirt with the text "I CAN'T BREATHE" standing outdoors.

Several of Murphy’s images also hint at people’s strong feelings of anger and injustice during the pandemic.

The first lockdown overlapped with Black Lives Matter protests in London, sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in the US.

And Covid-19 only highlighted the social and racial inequalities in health and policing which Londoners experience.

“It was really important to me to cover such themes and for my photographs to go beyond the surface,” said Murphy.

Jemima Yong

In almost abstract black-and-white photographs, Jemima Yong's series Field recorded people exercising on the field below her south London flat.

  • A drone hovering above a textured, sandy surface captured in a high-contrast black and white photograph.
  • Aerial view of a single person jogging in a large, open grassy area, casting a long shadow on the ground.
  • Black and white image of four people and a dog on a grassy field, with two individuals playing with a large white sheet.
  • Aerial view of a person running alone across a vast, textured gray field.
  • Two people and a dog walking on a vast, open grassy field, captured in black and white from a high angle.
  • Aerial view of three people playing soccer on a large, textured grass field. One is kicking the ball while the others run nearby.

Cooped up at home in the spring of 2020, when government rules only allowed you to go outside once a day for exercise, Yong picked up her camera. Her daily series of images track the motions and interactions of the people below.

You feel the separation between us and them – as though they were tiny figurines, or actors in a play.

“I seek out the spaces in between people that evoke a sense of story,” said Yong.

Grey Hutton

Grey Hutton spent lockdown getting to know the founders, volunteers and users of local charities and community organisations in the east London borough of Hackney. These photos are from the series The Ties that Bind.

  • A person in a red jacket stands in a dimly lit room, looking at various items and supplies spread out on a table.

    Beautine Wester goes through donations at the E5 Baby Bank, Clapton. 21 October 2020.

  • Men praying on individual prayer rugs in a mosque with ornate blue tile walls, a blue-patterned carpet, and a large chandelier.

    Socially distanced prayers at Suleymaniye Mosque, Haggerston on the eve of the second government lockdown. November 2020.

  • A woman and a young girl embracing warmly in a cozy room lit with golden light, surrounded by homey decorations.

    Joanne and her youngest daughter Ava hug in their living room after school. Joanne received food from Connecting All Communities during the pandemic. 15 October 2020.

  • Paramedic sitting beside an open ambulance door, displaying medical supplies, with a focused expression.

    Hatzola technician Dovy Sternlicht sits in a volunteer ambulance in Stamford Hill at the end of a day, 12 May 2020.

  • A child in a striped shirt and skirt climbs on a couch to peek over a tall wooden fence.

    Ari Feferkorn's six-year old daughter peers over the garden fence at the neighbours children playing in the garden next door in Stamford Hill. Ari and his wife started Bedside Kosher, providing free, home-cooked meals for Jewish patients in hospital. 2020.

  • People standing in line outside a low brick building labeled "The Polling Station" with apartment buildings in the background.

    Community Food Hub run by Children With Voices at De Beauvoir Tenants and Residents Association. 2020.

  • A woman with long red hair and a tattoo on her arm smiles gently while wearing a black dress in a warmly lit room.

    Agnes, chef at the Ridley Road Social Club, where she ran a subsistence kitchen and delivered meals across Hackney for Mutual Aid. 2020.

  • A woman wearing a hijab, mask and gloves, standing outdoors with trees in the background.

    Shukri Aden, founder of Connecting All Communities, on Hackney Downs after distributing meals and presents to families for Eid. 2 August 2020.

  • A man in a white apron and blue gloves standing confidently with brick buildings and green fencing in the background.

    Sami Ayad, volunteer for the Children with Voices Community Food Hub in De Beauvoir Town, 2020.

These organisations were vital in Hackney, where levels of unemployment, poverty, housing struggles and health issues were high, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“These organisations are not government bodies,” said Hutton. “They are literally just your community, your neighbours, a person who is living down the road. It brings home the importance of these organisations and how reliant so many families are on them. They really are holding certain communities together.”

Jilke Golbach

Curator of Photographs

Tags

Covid-19 Photography London today Health & Disease Politics & Society Hackney

Related objects

Related blogs & stories