Colleagues feature in social care photo series

A photography series depicting the real-life experiences of our charity’s social care workers during the pandemic will be previewed at an online panel talk, presented by Open Eye Gallery on Thursday 25 November.

‘Who’s Left Behind?’ is an emotive series focusing on the social care sector and older communities during the pandemic. It is hosted by the Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool, one of the most prestigious social photography spaces in the UK.

Photographer Tadhg Devlin worked with our charity to create ‘A Portrait of Care’ – a project exploring the experiences of social care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting those especially at risk of contracting the virus and often making significant sacrifices themselves to do so.

Tadhg followed five of our charity’s services from areas across the North West, including St Helens, Knowsley, Liverpool and Warrington.

The individual stories from our charity, that his photos feature, include one of our Support Worker colleagues who lived in a caravan to prevent risk of transmission of the virus to his family, and a colleague who faced significant challenges buying food for the people he supports, as panic buying set in.

Our charity’s CEO, Mark Adams, will be part of the panel, discussing the impact of the imagery and reality of working in the sector during the pandemic.

Mark said: “These pictures serve as an immersive visual reminder of the challenges facing social care workers across the country over the last 18 months, over what has been an unprecedented period for so many.

“Every one of Tadhg’s pictures tells a story of an individual, or sometimes many experiences of going above and beyond to care for others, at a time when no-one knew what might come next.

“Seeing these experiences presented in such a striking format tells so much more of the story. I’m looking forward to discussing them more at the panel.”

Tadhg has also begun a new commission working alongside Open Eye Gallery and Merseyway NHS Foundation Trust in association with Liverpool SURF Group, presenting the experiences of people living with dementia during lockdown.

The panel will discuss the works in progress from both projects and participants will be invited to take part in a Q&A.

The completed works will feature in an exhibition at the gallery next year.

Thursday’s event will take place at 1.00pm on Zoom. You can find out more and sign up to the event here.