2:00pm

Free admission, RSVP essential

RSVP 

This poignant work weaves Roberts' seascape photographs, captured daily during the COVID-19 pandemic, with government press conference recordings, personal testimonials, and a moving monologue by actor, Rory Kinnear.

As we approach the fourth anniversary of the first lockdown of the pandemic, the film encourages us to contemplate the profound impact of the crisis. Exploring themes of grief, outrage, and asking critical questions surrounding the government's response, it offers an immersive experience that some may find deeply emotional. Four years on, the film tries to comprehend the unprecedented challenges faced by society in 2020.

The 33 minute film will be introduced by Simon Roberts, followed by a Q&A.

The film is supported by A Daily Sea, a limited-edition portfolio from Simon Roberts of related work comprising photographs looking out to sea from Brighton beach taken daily between the 19th March 2020 when the Covid-19 lockdown in the UK started and the 13th May when official Government advice changed in England and the lockdown was lifted. The original series of photographs were posted daily on Instagram accompanied by a sea-related poem/quote and made available as limited-edition fundraising prints to raise money for the NHS Covid-19 Urgent Appeal.

The photographs represent an extended meditation on this most significant time in our shared history. Through the repetition of daily seascapes, itself a meditative act, we see one sea in 56 ways, sometimes rough and tumultuous, other times serene and mellow, from dawn to dusk.

In the final portfolio of work the daily pairing of sea view with a related text are accompanied by the daily and cumulative coronavirus mortality figures from the Office for National Statistics. 

With the first edition of 5 acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, we are delighted to offer the final available copy in the edition, 5/5. 

An Avoidable Loss, A Failure of State will also be screened at Pallant House, 23-28 March 2024.