February, 2021

Images of the local community staging a window-show of optimism during the dire ebbs of the pandemic. Reminiscent of surveillance, I relish the opportunity to peer into other people’s private spaces, wondering whether anyone has thought to exhibit a message around the trauma and loneliness we’re trying to avoid addressing. 

Community Giftwrap is a document of an event which brought joy and togetherness that so many people in the locality needed, but questions the inner realities, hidden truths, and the symbolism of the closed, obscured window. “Talk! That’s not talking,” my daughter suggests at the end. Ambient sound recordings of children’s TV drowning out the days mixed with glimpses of iconic Coventry soundtracks including the voice of Delia Derbyshire projected at Earlsdon Library texturise and contextualise this early event for Coventry’s “City of Culture” year.

02:46, mp4 format.