Lockdown in London
Remember that time when Central London was completely deserted?
The thing about living through history is that we don’t really comprehend how significant present events are without the benefit of hindsight. We’re already not great at living in the present, but our natural coping mechanisms to deal with the trauma of something like Covid-19 place additional barriers between us and our reality so that it doesn’t break us. In rural North Carolina, it’s easy to pretend Covid isn’t happening. Things remained relatively unchanged, except for the noticeably eery absence of air traffic earlier in the pandemic.
When I found myself in Central London last winter, I also found myself right up against the pandemic in a way I hadn’t experienced before. It was jarring, unsettling, and fascinating. The Alpha variant, known as the British or B.1.1.7 variant at the time, had rammed hospitals so full that it forced Downing Street to implement a second total lockdown during the holidays.
London’s glittering monuments to commerce were only that as commuters remained at home. Ghost buses kept their schedules and often opened their doors for no one. Perhaps the most unnerving aspect of this scene straight out of 28 Days Later was the soundtrack. There was hardly any traffic noise, very little chatter among the handful of pedestrians, and when the stifling silence was interrupted, it was by ambulances.
The lockdown in London was bleak, but it was an excellent time to photograph the city and record a generation-defining event. Areas that would normally be completely rammed full of tourists, like the Tower of London, were devoid of any signs of life, save for the ravens. This is what one of the most important cities in the world looked like when everything came to a halt. ◉
Written by Seth Barham
