Canberra photographer selected by Duchess of Cambridge for landmark Hold Still 2020 exhibition

Posted on 23 September, 2020

The last time we caught up with Amanda Summons, a Canberra-based photographer living in London, her project South West London Stays Home (#SWLondonStaysHome) had raised more than $5000 for charity.

#SWLondonStaysHome saw Amanda photograph hundreds of people on their doorsteps to raise money for Critical NHS, a London-based charity that supports frontline healthcare workers during COVID-19.

Now, that very project has landed Amanda’s work in front of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, who, along with an expert panel, has selected Amanda’s photo of Clap For Our Carers founder Annemarie Plas for Hold Still 2020, a landmark exhibition all about the UK’s experience of COVID.

Comprised of just 100 portraits selected from a pool of 31,598 submissions by a panel that included Nicholas Cullinan, Director the of the National Portrait Gallery, and the Duchess herself, Hold Still 2020 is completely virtual and can be viewed at npg.org.uk/hold-still.

However, Amanda says that she almost missed the all-important email.

“I found out about a month before the announcement via email and actually the first email had gone into my junk folder so the National Portrait Gallery had to email me twice to make sure I got the news!”

“I had just come back from a very short but stressful holiday so it was an incredible delight to find the judging panel had selected my photo as one of the 100 featured.”

Amanda Summons.

While Amanda says it was hard to keep the secret and frustrating to not be able to celebrate it much in-person, seeing the exhibition go live on Monday was a thrill, adding that she doesn’t see the honour as a recognition of her photography so much as of her storytelling.

Annemarie Plas, a Dutch-born yoga teacher living in London, was inspired to start ‘Clap For Our Carers’ after seeing a similar initiative in her home country.

Each Thursday at 8 pm for 10 weeks during March, April and May, people across the UK would gather on their doorsteps to show their appreciation for the UK’s frontline healthcare workers, with the resulting chorus of applause, banging pots and music becoming some of the most heartwarming footage to emerge from the UK lockdown.

Rather fittingly, Amanda’s portrait was taken during the final clap, on Annemarie’s own doorstep.

“While I was taking my #SWLondonStaysHome photos back in deep lockdown, I found out that the founder of the Clap for Our Carers in the UK lived near me in South West London,” says Amanda.

“I contacted Annemarie via Instagram message to ask if I could come past and photograph her for the series. By the time we set it all up, it ended up being the last official clap. This meant that her doorstep was being broadcast on BBC while I took this photo so you could even see me for a few seconds on the BBC live telecast!”

For Amanda, while she snapped many a moving portrait as part of #SWLondonStaysHome, there was no deliberation when it came to what image she would submit to Hold Still 2020.

“When thinking of which photo of lockdown to submit to Hold Still, I knew it had to be one from this evening because of the historical significance as well as emotional. The clap became a real touchstone of the community here in the UK throughout lockdown.”

“The photo reminds me of sticking my head out the window and banging on pots and pans back in April at 8 pm every Thursday and making friends with my downstairs neighbours as a result. The photo reminds me documenting something historical and the rush that comes with that experience. The photo reminds me that even a small idea you have can become something. Annemarie thought it might be nice to do a clap in London and lo and behold it became much more than that.”

As for how London is feeling as the UK emerges slowly from lockdown, Amanda is pensive. With her family currently locked down in Melbourne, she says she always feels as if she’s “pulled between two worlds but at the moment it’s like three”.

“One foot here in summer, another back in Canberra spring, so very different, and then another limb in deep Melbourne lockdown where my family is and that just confused everything!”

However, she’s optimistic about the remainder of her time in the UK, with a podcast project on the way (an adaptation of her ongoing project, The Ladies) and the national mood lifting thanks to a sunny summer.

“I’m very lucky to be where I am, still working full time. I’m sad summer is ending and taking the good weather but I’m optimistic what the next few months will bring, in terms of adjusting to COVID-normal.”

You can find Amanda’s portrait of Annemarie Plas here and the full exhibition here.

Feature image: Annemarie Plas photographed by Amanda Summons for #SWLondonStaysHome. Image supplied.