Covid-19 & Beyond
Photo Copyright Antonio Silvestri
The exhibition ‘COVID-19 & Beyond’ originated from an international open call launched by Cinzia D’Ambrosi, founder and director of the Photojournalism Hub, during the peak of the pandemic. Curated by D’Ambrosi alongside assistant curator Ella Khalek, the project was designed with a specific focus on advocacy through the lens. It features the work of photographers from across the globe, including Iran, Argentina, the Republic of Congo, and the UK documenting how the crisis intensified structural inequalities and social injustices. To provide a structured narrative for these global stories, the works were categorized into three primary themes:
The Front Line: Focusing on care homes and the experiences of essential workers.
The Street: Documenting public movements, including Black Lives Matter protests and anti-vaccination demonstrations.
The Home: Exploring domestic themes, including the impact of lockdown on gender, domestic abuse, and specific demographics such as youth and the elderly.
The COVID-19 exhibition project was a significant success, effectively merging professional photojournalism with citizen-led responses. By utilising a multi-platform approach comprising of public workshops, a live event at Riverside Studios, a physical exhibition, and a publication the project created a vital space for public reflection. The project successfully addressed the pandemic’s role as a precursor to ongoing social justice issues, including health disparities, loss of freedom of speech, and systemic inequalities. The heart of the project lay in its mission to empower those impacted by injustice whether through grief, long COVID, or social marginalisation by providing a space where their lived experiences could be heard. By merging professional photojournalism with citizen-led responses, the project moved beyond traditional observation into active participation and reflection. This was achieved through a multi-platform approach; preparatory work included collaborative public workshops at the Sulgrave Club in Shepherd’s Bush and a live ‘In Focus’ event at Riverside Studios, featuring photographers Chiara Fabbro and Ruth Toda-Nation.
The exhibition was hosted at The Lodge Gallery and the Sands End Arts & Community Centre (SEACC) in Fulham from March 12–15, 2026. With over 130 attendees on the opening night alone, the event showcased the work of photographers from across the world, including Iran, Argentina, The Republic of Congo, the UK and the wider European continent and featured notable photographers, including Chiara Fabbro, Cinzia D’Ambrosi, David Gilber Wright, Angela Christofilou and Ruth Toda-Nations. To capture the community’s response, interactive feedback boards were installed with dl-sized cards to capture spontaneous public thoughts and responses to specific prompts regarding emotional impact and key takeaways.
Photo Copyright Antonio Silvestri
The exhibition contributed to community well-being and active engagement by transforming the pandemic narrative from one of isolation into a collective, creative experience. The workshops and feedback cards revealed deep-seated emotional impacts that continue to affect the public, including how social relationships have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels of “human touch” and connection. Significant feedback was gathered regarding the trauma of loss. One notable respondent detailed her mother’s illness and death, highlighting concerns that her mother’s treatment in care was negatively impacted by racial profiling. The project established a strong crossover with the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group (part of the official COVID Inquiry), identifying a shared need for storytelling to drive political and social advocacy.
The initiative successfully addressed the pandemic’s role as a precursor to ongoing social justice issues, including health disparities, loss of freedom of speech, and systemic inequalities. It comprehended various events and activities, including Collaborative Public Workshops integrating public voices with professional photographers hosted at the Sulgrave Club in Shepherds Bush during the month of February. In Focus photography event at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith featuring photographers Chiara Fabbro and Ruth Toda-Nation presenting their poignant photography work followed by Q&As.
The project’s legacy is preserved in the ‘COVID-19 & Beyond’ photobook, available in both print and digital formats.
Photo Copyright Antonio Silvestri
Selected media & press coverage:
The Londonist: Featured as a ‘top place to go’ in London.
PAN (Photo Archive News): National agency writes an article featuring the exhibition.
Art Rabbit: Prominent listing on this specialist photography and arts platform.
Local Government: The Hammersmith & Fulham Council published articles and interview with Cinzia D’Ambrosi supporting the project during its development.
Photojournalism Hub Journal: Injustices & Inequalities: Covid-19
Photojournalism Hub: Exhibition ‘Covid-19 & Beyond’
No26.com Article The Truth behind the masks Covid-19 & Beyond exhibition opens in London
Outlook and future steps
The COVID-19 & Beyond exhibition stands as a primary visual and research study for our core mission: bridging the gap between professional photojournalism and the lived experiences of the community. It has made a significant impact on arts, culture, and heritage by transforming a global health crisis into a documented cultural legacy. It moved beyond the traditional “news cycle” to create a permanent, artistic record of the pandemic’s social consequences. We believe that reporting should not be something done to a community, but with them. By integrating our ‘Citizen Photojournalism’ program alongside professional work, we move beyond mere observation into active participation.
By documenting health disparities, widening inequalities, and the increasing threats to freedom of speech, this exhibition functions as both a visual archive and a movement for social justice. We provide a platform for those the system has historically overlooked from the elderly in care homes to refugees on the Balkan route capturing the human stories that data-driven reporting often misses.
We do not view this exhibition as a closed event, but as an ongoing conversation. We will continue to speak to and with the public through images.
We will use the momentum from our photobook and digital reach to keep these social justice themes in the public eye. This is not a closed event, but an ongoing conversation. We are committed to using the momentum from our photobook and digital reach to keep these themes in the public eye. We remain dedicated to providing local and global photographers with the visibility needed to challenge the status quo and inspire tangible change.
“This exhibition serves to highlight and advocate for a deeper understanding of the widening inequalities impacting communities globally. By uniting people through the power of visual storytelling, we have created a vital channel for voices that often go unheard. Advocacy is the catalyst for both understanding and systemic change; to that end, we remain committed to documenting the ongoing stories of COVID-19 and its lasting impact on social justice. Our mission is to foster the growth of “Citizen Photojournalism, a movement dedicated to making media more democratic, accessible, and authentically rooted in news from the ground up.” – Cinzia, Photojournalism Hub director and founder.
Photojournalism Hub presents ‘COVID-19 and Beyond’, a landmark photography exhibition exploring the lasting legacy of the pandemic.
DATES: 12–15 March 2026
The Lodge Gallery and the Meeting Room
Sands End Arts & Community Centre
London SW8
OPENING NIGHT: 12 March, 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
FREE ENTRY, RSVP
Photojournalism Hub is delighted to present COVID-19 & Beyond, a powerful photography exhibition that reflects on one of the most pivotal moments in recent history and the profound, lasting consequences that continue to shape our world today. Emerging from an international Open Call launched by the Photojournalism Hub’s director Cinzia D’Ambrosi, during the height of the COVID–19 pandemic, this exhibition marks the first time this body of work is brought together in a public, physical space. It is both a long-awaited and necessary moment.
COVID–19 & Beyond brings together a compelling body of work by photographers who documented lived realities and bore witness to how the pandemic did not affect everyone equally, but instead exposed and intensified existing injustices and structural inequalities locally in London and globally.
COVID–19 marked a shared global crisis, however, its impact was deeply unequal. Marginalised communities faced disproportionate risks, losses, and restrictions, whilst long standing issues around housing, immigration, race, women’s rights, access to healthcare, mental health, and freedom of expression were further entrenched. For many, the repercussions are still felt today physically, emotionally, economically, and politically.
Through photography, personal testimonies and reflections, COVID–19 & Beyond amplifies voices that were too often excluded from dominant pandemic narratives. The exhibition not only looks back at an extraordinary and traumatic period, but also asks urgent questions about the present and the future: Where are we now? What has changed? What has been normalised? And where are we heading?
“The pandemic acted as a catalyst accelerating social change, widening inequality, and reshaping our relationship with power, rights, and accountability,” says Director and Curator Cinzia D’Ambrosi. “In many ways, it forced humanity to confront its own fragility, marking a moment when collective survival, dignity, and justice were fundamentally challenged. Yet many questions remain unanswered. The struggle did not end when lockdowns were lifted.”
COVID-19 & Beyond is more than an exhibition. Curated by Cinzia D’Ambrosi in collaboration with Ella Khalek, the exhibition combines visual responses from community workshops and a research-led online journal to foster deeper understanding, collective reflection, and long-term impact. The exhibition also strongly demonstrates the Photojournalism Hub’s ongoing work in using documentary photography as a means to sustain dialogue, research, and creative engagement around social injustice and inequality.
Exhibiting photographers: Aidan Brooks, Angela Christofilou, Barbara Traver, Chiara Fabbro, Cinzia D’Ambrosi, David Gilbert Wright, Erhan Us, Erica Dezonne, Flaviana Frascogna, Gemma Mancinelli, Joanna Olivia Fountain, Kasangati Godelive, Krzysztof Maniocha, Mattea McKinnon, Nic Madge, Omur Ozkoyuncu, Rueda Photos (Daiana Valencia and Celeste Alonso), Ruth Toda-Nation, Sabrina Merolla, Sebastian Ambrossio, Thabo Jaiyesimi, Valeria Luongo.
Curators
Curator: Cinzia D’Ambrosi
Curatorial Assistant: Ella Khalek
Press Contact
Cinzia D’Ambrosi Director, Photojournalism Hub
Email: cinzia@photojournalismhub.org
Website: www.photojournalismhub.org
Instagram: @photojournalism_hub
Our Supporters
This exhibition was made possible through the generous contributions of our crowdfunding community and the support of:
Hammersmith & Fulham Council
Sands End Arts & Community Centre
Studio Twenty7
Notes to Editors
About the Photojournalism Hub The Photojournalism Hub is a west London-based Community Interest Company (CIC) dedicated to using documentary photography as a tool for social change. By providing training, research, and a platform for sharing independent, courageous and powerful photojournalism and documentary photography, the Hub advocates for human rights and social justice.
About the Curator Cinzia D’Ambrosi is a multi award-winning documentary photographer and the founder of the Photojournalism Hub. Her work focuses on state violence, migration, and structural inequality. She has been widely published and exhibited internationally, focusing on photography’s power to drive social change.
High-Resolution Images A selection of high-resolution images from the exhibition is available for media use upon request. To request images or an interview with the curator or featured photographers, please contact cinzia@photojournalismhub.org.
