Abstract

Alaides, 2021 is a portrait of Alaides, an intensive care nurse at the Royal London Hospital, photographed seated on the floor in her scrubs. The work was acquired by the Wellcome Collection, London, one of the UK's foremost museums exploring the connections between medicine, life and art. The portrait is accompanied by Alaides's own first-person testimony reflecting on her experience of providing critical care during the Covid-19 pandemic, giving voice to the emotional and physical toll borne by frontline healthcare workers. The work forms part of Churchill's wider body of practice documenting the lived experience of NHS staff, drawing on her own background as a nurse. Wellcome Collection reference 3305560i.

Photograph of Alaides, an ITU nurse at Royal London Hospital, sitting on the floor wearing scrubs.

Notes
Title provided by the photographer.

Copyright: all rights reserved
“Covid 19 and the pandemic changed the lives of every single healthcare professional and it was the most frightening and heartbreaking experience in my career as a critical care nurse. As a healthcare professional I had to face the unknown alongside my colleagues for 2 years and it felt that our shifts were a war zone. Watching in the news the appalling daily increase in hospital admissions knowing that I would be the one providing care to these patients and supporting their families was daunting. I never thought I would see so many families lose their loved ones and to see their pain and hopelessness was devastating. I work with an amazing team who faced covid 19 like soldiers. They gave me the strength to persevere and use my knowledge and nursing skills to save lives. As a team we used all resources necessary to ensure our patients were given the best quality of care under the pressure of staffing shortages and lack of hospital beds.” - - Alaides, 2022.

Physical description
2x photographs: digital colour print on paper; sheet 42 x 50 cm

Reference
Wellcome Collection 3305560i
Copyright note
Johannah Churchill. All rights reserved.