Funeral attendees, Waltham Forest Muslim Cemetery, 2020

Spencer Murphy’s photo essay ‘Our Bullet Lives Blossom as They Race towards the Wall’ narrates the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic through portraiture and street photography. Capturing political expressions and signs of the time in the urban landscape, his photographs bring into focus the sharp socio-economic divides in a nation gripped by an invisible threat. Graffitied slogans, padlocked swings, looming tower blocks, deer roaming suburban streets and the prime minister’s pixelated image all contribute to a sense of estrangement, frustration and isolation.