In Pursuit of Connection

We don’t really use our public spaces well in the UK, not with the same easygoing warmth as they do in, say, southern Europe. When the lockdown hit, it struck me how the communal spaces and entrances we pass through without a thought took on new meanings: a few square metres outside a group of flats serving as the venue for pre-dinner cocktails, people tapping on laptops in tiny front gardens, sharing their alfresco office with a couple of wheelie bins.

London is often framed as a cold and unfriendly city but during those first months of lockdown Londoners were at their best. Amid the fear and uncertainty, I discovered people making the most of a scary situation. We had time on our hands with nothing to do, forced outdoors by the stifling heat yet unable to leave home. We were driven to the margins of what was permissible, relocating to corners that allowed us to enjoy that incredible sunshine – one of the few positives of the lockdown.

At first, it was the front-yard sun seekers who caught my eye, bare-shouldered, reclining by the recycling or draped across concrete steps. The way the British spring into action at the slightest hint of warm weather, naked flesh suddenly everywhere, has always cheered me.

The more I looked, the more I noticed that people were not only basking in the sun but actively seeking connections, talking and interacting; a nod to a passer-by,

a doorstep shared with a neighbour, someone they’d perhaps lived alongside for months or years, but never really acknowledged. As the weeks went on, the spaces evolved once again, driven by the needs of their occupiers. Replacing the solo sunbathers of the early days, small groups began to flourish: a circle of kitchen chairs heralding a belated birthday celebration, a jam session or a family meet-up.

Among the panic and confusion, the out-of-bounds playgrounds and the warnings to stay at home, there was a warmth and a sense of solidarity that I found both thrilling and hopeful. There was a desire to rethink how we live, only made possible because the world had turned on its head.

To have lived through this experience together is an extraordinary thing. I hope these images convey some of the optimism and camaraderie I found in the smallest of spaces during those blistering few months. I feel sure that what I discovered between April and July 2020 is not merely a reflection of a corner of London but rather a mirror of our collective determination as humans to make best of things, to move out of the shade and make the most of the light.

by Olivia Harris