People stuck in isolation during lockdown have “gone public” to share their experiences at an exhibition in Whitechapel's Toynbee Hall centre.
Photographer Adam Isfendiyar walked the streets snapping people at their windows, doors and balconies for a University of Oxford study into the effects of lockdown.
“I saw people just looking out into the street and that gave me the idea,” Adam told the East London Advertiser.
“I put a message on a Covid mutual aid group and got 50 replies from people anxious to tell their stories.”
Adam met two of them again when the exhibition opened. They were Peggy Metaxas, who he photographed at her front door in Bethnal Green, and Lynn Mcfarlane, who he snapped looking down from her rooftop Garden in Limehouse.
“They were thrilled to see their pictures on show after spending months in isolation,” the 41-year-old photographer added.
“The lockdown was soul destroying with some even feeling paranoid.”
Lawyer Komal Patel was in isolation in Mile End and spent her days cooking, reading and practising the piano.
She recalled: “It was pretty soul destroying, but it made me realise how much of my life runs on adrenaline. It's nice not being in a rush.”
Their stories and Adam's snapshots are on show at Toynbee Hall until the end of the month.
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