PORTRAITS AND WORDS OF THE PEOPLE ON THE COVID-19 FRONT LINE

We clapped for them every Thursday but we didn’t see their faces... In hospitals and medical centres across Dorset - and the nation - their identities have been hidden behind masks and gowns and gloves.

“Unmasked” is a project inspired by the fact that, to fight this invisible enemy, our healthcare heroes have made themselves invisible, too, in a way. At the heart of the project is a series of portraits by photographer Andy Scaysbrook, which reveals and celebrates faces on the front line in Dorset. Together with journalist Emma Pittard and graphic designer John Nesbitt, Andy shines a light on many of the men and women behind the masks.

This exhibition is a sample of the work we achieved during lockdown while respecting social-distancing guidelines and without having to travel too far from our Dorset homes. From simply talking to friends who are key workers to being featured in The Times and The Sunday Times, this project keeps gaining! A book containing more photographs and full stories is in production, to raise funds for local NHS charities and to serve as a permanent record of these times. 

Arts in Hospital Advisor at Dorset County Hospital, Suzy Rushbrook commented: “Arts in Hospital has been proud to work with Andy, Emma and John on this project and were delighted when they contacted us in the middle of lockdown. “Art has an enormous impact on health and wellbeing and this is something people are becoming increasingly aware of, making collaborative projects like this invaluable. “The hope is that this project will serve as an exercise in wellbeing and a morale booster for staff working all over the Dorset health sector; to show that their stories are being told and that people are listening, that they are truly appreciated and that this extraordinary time is being recorded.”