Life, as we knew it in London, stopped on March the 23rd when the Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a full lockdown in an unprecedented broadcast to the nation.
Dougie Wallace’s depiction of London, crippled by the COVID pandemic, through snapshots of its iconic red buses, tells us the story of how London coped with lockdown, its aftermath and is still struggling to find a way back on its feet.
Like time capsules, adverts from BC (before covid) still plastered all over buses, which would have been and gone in ‘normal’ times, act as stark reminders of the dire straits that the leisure and Arts sector — the city’s lifeblood — has found itself. Theatres, cinemas, concert and other-type venues have all suffered unprecedented box-office revenue losses and major economic disruption wrought by the lockdown and post-lockdown precautionary measures. At the same time, masses of actors, musicians and other performers, as well as technical, production and support staff, lost their livelihoods. The travel industry is in the same boat — as few people will be travelling to enticing sunny destinations such as Malaysia, Israel or Croatia (for those who did, quarantine beckoned on return). What future for the arts or travel? Bus stop billboards are somewhat more up-to-date, mainly reminding us to wash our hands or thank the NHS (National Health Service).
A temporary retrieve when social restrictions eased meant that more people appeared to be on the streets going on about their lives. Whether that’s shopping or protest or religious calling, the shots capture the early autumnal city buzz. A cacophony of all ages, ethnicities, creeds and styles as only London can produce… but all of that is to be silenced again with the new lockdown looming.
Bus advertising aside, Wallace’s buses tell us another story. Public transport provides a great case to uncover the social consequences of COVID 19 and the measures to contain it (through various tactics ranging from protective gear to branded signage) while the documentation of life through street shots of drivers and commuters through Wallace’s lens put into the spotlight the underserved, who did a heroic job of serving us all.
Although, at first, the government discouraged people from using public transport, the challenge to restore services had nonetheless caused ‘chaos and panic’ among drivers’ unions. In London, where over 50% of all bus journeys in England are made, COVID has claimed 43 transport workers’ lives and among them 29 bus drivers (with higher death rates linked to COVID among male drivers) (End of May 2020 figures). Behind each stat, however, there is a human story. A driver behind a mask, behind a plexiglass partition, (or sneeze screen, as it started to be called), behind a door that says ‘do not board’, cordoned off from the rest of the bus — as if it were a crime scene awaiting SOCO!
And it is in these people close-ups that Wallace’s unmistakable style shines through. On the side of the ordinary folk going about their lives in extraordinary circumstances, the photos leave us all a testament of this weird time. To be continued, as the city enters another lockdown.
Like drivers, commuters, too, were reluctant to begin with. For weeks on end, buses were running almost entirely empty in rush hour suggesting that the sign ‘no need to touch’ on the middle door — which could have acted as short-lived incentives to commuters although we were later told that it was a protective measure — did little to encourage them to take a free ride. By mid-May, TFL announced that service levels of all public transport systems were rising again, reaching 85 per cent for buses. By mid-July, limits on the number of passengers allowed on board each bus have also been relaxed in line with the easing of national government rules on social distancing. That’s the theory. In practice and in situ, Wallace’s almost daily documentation of people on the bus shows a different story. Numbers picked up but at a slower pace, with buses only occasionally reaching the new full capacity, on either single or double-deckers, which is increased from the first wave of social distancing but sharply scaled back in relation to the actual full passenger capacity. More human than metrics, Wallace’s work can be used as an indicator of the future. It paints the changing work landscape, where perhaps fewer people will be going to the office, implicitly perpetuating the blue/white collar divide. As Wallace ironically implies through a series of metaphoric shots, only fools and horses go to work!!
A lone commuter, with his eyes closed, mouth and nose hid behind facial coverings — perhaps a nurse, having done a long shift at Imperial. An elderly gentleman, with a mask handmade of flowery-design cloth (when they were only just beginning to be available, as opposed to the disposable medical ones) and a Marygold glove on the hand that holds the rails. A shopper, with a bandana over nose and mouth, reminiscent of robbers in Wild West films… She’s coming off the bus. Oh wait, there she is again, getting on another. A cacophony of all ages, ethnicities, creeds and styles as only London can produce…
It is in these people close-ups that Wallace’s unmistakable style shines through. The ordinary folk going about their lives in extraordinary circumstances, thus leaving us all a testament of this weird but historic time.
All images © Dougie Wallace.
