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 Today is the second anniversary of the first lockdown – the dread moment in 2020 when we were ushered into a collective state of suspended animation with an undetermined exit. 

Few will remember this hiatus fondly, causing, as it did, more than 150,000 deaths, vast economic damage and a terrible mental health crisis. But the cultural legacy of the Covid era is starting to emerge – including a remarkable series of paintings by the London artist Nick Botting, whose exhibition Soho to Scilly opens at the Portland Gallery in London on Thursday March 24.

Botting’s paintings, all made within the last two years, constitute a visual diary of the Covid years, including those mesmerising lockdown walks in the emptied-out city, the wild swims and picnics, the socially distanced meets, the takeaway coffees – even the ‘eat out to help out’ splurge. Most of all, they communicate that eerie sense of drawn-out space and time that befell us all, and which may shape our behaviour for years to come.  

“Lockdown was a total immersion for everyone and obviously very difficult, but it was in some ways a bit of an opportunity for me,” says Botting. “The busy streets emptied out, so that we could really see where we live.”

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