Light-Work
During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, from May to August 2020, more than 600 volunteers came together to support the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust in the provision and delivery of PPE surgical gowns for its frontline workers at the Royal Free Hospital.
As one of the volunteers in the Sewing Room, between sewing sleeves and shoulders, I gradually amassed a collection of photographs which document the people, their hands and the many swift and transitory processes that took part in this ephemeral project.
This unique project was an incredibly energetic and practical response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Volunteers generously gave their time and were involved in the many processes within the Sewing, Cutting and Finishing Rooms to create and complete the finished gowns - from cutting, assembling, sewing, finishing, folding, packing, threading, coordinating, and everything in between.
The project, which came to be known as the Hampstead Gown Factory, ran for four months and finally came to a close at the end of August 2020, having produced over 50,000 medical-grade surgical gowns.
An unexpected and fortuitous conversation with another volunteer, designer Adam Brown, led to Adam designing and creating the layout for a book. The limited edition book has now been published by the Royal Free Charity and is a collaboration between Adam and myself celebrating the project and some of the many volunteers I had the joy of meeting and photographing during this extraordinary time.
Sarah Nicholl, 2021
A PDF of the book can be viewed here.
A copy of the book can be purchased via the Royal Free Charity here.
A selection of photographs are included in the online Exhibition: 'Art in Adversity' with Burgh House which can be viewed here.
