Major Sheffield exhibition showcases Stories from the Pandemic

It’s now nearly three years on from the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent first UK lockdowns and in many ways, we are all still processing those events which had such a huge impact on everyone’s lives. As we begin to move on, a new exhibition in Sheffield is offering people the chance to take a moment to reflect on this profound collective experience.
By Yvette Huddleston
Published 20th Feb 2023, 16:45 BST

Stories from the Pandemic, which opens at the city’s Millennium Gallery this week and runs for ten days, is the result of an extensive project that has been gathering stories from individuals and communities in Sheffield about their experiences during the pandemic. Delivered by Sheffield-based not-for-profit culture and arts organisation Opus in partnership with Compassionate Sheffield, part of the city’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy focussed on harnessing the power of compassion to create a healthier, happier Sheffield and Sheffield City Council, the project’s aim is three-fold – to celebrate the small acts of kindness experienced during the pandemic, to remember those who were lost, and to support positive change in communities across the city. It also highlights the importance of recognising that everyone’s story is different, and everyone’s story is valid.

“It has been a privilege to have been involved in this project,” says Tim Feben of Opus who has led on gathering the stories and designing the exhibition. “We collected face to face interviews on film with people who had expressed an interest in the project, set up a website so people could make submissions to it and we put out postcards in museums, libraries and community centres to reach out to people. It has been a year’s worth of work with lots of different organisations collaborating. It has been a very powerful reminder of what we can make happen if we work together.”

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The exhibition takes the form of rooms in a ‘lockdown house’, with stories drawn from people from all walks of life displayed on coffee tables, in pictures on the walls, photographs, books, through various household objects and via TV and radio broadcasts. “We were having conversations with Sheffield Museums and with Compassionate Sheffield about the body of information we had in terms of stories and how best to present them,” says Feben. “We wanted to make the show engaging and also to transport people back to that time of lockdown so that’s how we came up with the concept of the house – we have tried to fill it with as many stories as possible.”

Mike, one of the participants in Sheffield's Stories from the Pandemic. The exhibition opens at the city's Millennium Gallery this week. Picture: OpusMike, one of the participants in Sheffield's Stories from the Pandemic. The exhibition opens at the city's Millennium Gallery this week. Picture: Opus
Mike, one of the participants in Sheffield's Stories from the Pandemic. The exhibition opens at the city's Millennium Gallery this week. Picture: Opus

Running alongside the exhibition is a free programme of creative workshops and ‘compassionate conversations’, led by Compassionate Sheffield, to give people the opportunity to reflect on their experiences and share them with others who may have gone through something similar, should they wish to. The programme will culminate in a weekend of free creative activities to support people to express their feelings and reflections. “Compassionate Sheffield are really fundamental to this project and what they want to do is to use it as a vehicle for change,” says Feben. “Everybody was affected by the pandemic in some way, everyone has a connection to it, so let’s have those conversations about the small acts of kindness that made such a big difference and what we can learn from them going forward.”

The stories that were collected have also formed the basis of a permanent memorial, designed by architect and sculptor George King, selected from 14 entries after Sheffield City Council invited submissions. It is being installed in Sheffield city centre by City Hall next month, around the time of the National Day of Reflection on March 23. The sculpture is a large-scale willow tree made of stainless steel and will feature a series of plaques inscribed with phrases and fragments from some of the stories. Sheffield City Council has committed to ensuring that all the experiences gathered through the project will be stored in the city’s archive as part of a lasting testimony.

Feben hopes that the exhibition will help people to not only reflect on their own experiences but also enable them to move forward with a feeling of community and common cause. “When you learn about other people’s lives, it creates more understanding and that is the foundation for empathy,” he says. “I hope the exhibition will help people to see others around them in a new light and with a renewed sense of empathy and connection.”

At the Millennium Gallery, Sheffield, February 25 to March 5. Free entry. Stories and exhibits will be published online after the exhibition has closed. sheffieldstoriesfromthepandemic.com

Related topics:PandemicSheffield City CouncilCovid-19George King