TOLL

“This is an act of remembrance, recognition, anger and protest”.

Toll is an project which makes a single mark for each of the first year’s reported deaths in the United Kingdom related to Coronavirus. It was made at Concrete Block Gallery in their inaugural residency and exhibition on the 15th and 16th May 2021.

It has been additionally installed fully laid out in the Edinburgh College of Art Sculpture Court and exhibited at The Dispensary Gallery in Wrexham from 14th March to 1st April 2022, marking the two year anniversary of the first registered deaths from COVID19 by the Office for National Statistics, reported as the 13th March 2020. At this show the physical work was on show along with the entirety of the 37 hour performance film through the Dispensary Gallery window via back projection screen.

The total reported deaths involving Covid19 for the first year in the UK was 145,652 and this is the number of marks made over 52 performances by Andrew in the space, each performance representing a single week’s statistics. The began project online on March 13th 2021, publishing the first performance video on the one-year anniversary of the first reported deaths in the UK, and completed publishing the work on May 13th 2021.

There are two elements to the artwork: the physical piece with the marks made on the paper and also the performance in the space making the work. It was made in solitary silence. All of the performances are available below.

Each mark is made with a single brush dab and is 4cm high and made on rolls of paper 1.5m wide and 10m long. The marks fill 53 metres of paper and have used over a litre of black ink. Each week’s statistics is filmed separately, and the longest film is 3 hours 6 minutes, representing the 6th week of Covid related deaths in the UK which was the highest toll for the year at 9,510.

Renowned documentary film maker, Dave MacFarlane of DMtwo Media, approached Andrew to document the process of making the work (film above). He commented:

“This recent filming project is one of those that come along and you can't help but take notice. The subject matter, the artistic concept and the wider social impact were all key factors in wanting to produce this short documentary”.

Quote from film:

“When you think about the statistics it easily gets abstracted away but I’m doing this to make it physical and make it so that it can’t be avoided. It’s a visualization that really makes you understand what’s happened, over a hundred and forty-five thousand deaths, you have to realise that this is something to get angry about. The impetus for this was anger and that’s what’s fed it. It’s anger at Westminster and at central government. I’ve felt that they haven’t been decisive, they haven’t made strong decisions, there has been a lot of waste, that has resulted in over a hundred thousand deaths. This is a protest piece, this is my version of holding up a placard and standing out in the street - this is my concerted silent protest.”