LEVY LOCKDOWN PORTRAITS | CIARA LEEMING

22-25 FEB 2024 | 10AM - 5PM | VICTORIA HALL | FREE

Levy Lockdown Portraits tells the story of the UK’s first Covid-19 lockdown through the medium of window portraits. Over six weeks of April and May 2020, Ciara Leeming photographed more than 250 households in her Manchester neighbourhood – capturing the spirit and resilience of the community at an odd and disconcerting point in time. She was able to turn the work into a book thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign. A year into the pandemic, she gave a number of people who she had photographed for the book a print and a Sharpie pen and asked them to reflect on their experiences of the past 12 months.

About Ciara Leeming

Ciara Leeming is a Manchester-based photographer and writer. Originally trained as a print journalist, she worked as a reporter for several regional newspapers and wrote about social affairs for publications including Big Issue North and The Guardian, before moving fully into photography. As a photographer, she worked collaboratively with Eastern European Roma families on an independent documentary project and has worked for many years with indigenous Gypsy and Traveller communities. During the pandemic, Ciara produced several bodies of work in her own neighbourhood of Levenshulme. She is currently an artist-in-residence at Open Eye Gallery, developing a socially engaged project in Wigan.