Supermarket

I wanted to explore the time around April 2020, when there was a sudden decrease in the presence of people in shops, and entering a Tesco was always unsettling on every visit; what we hear and see have changed drastically before and after lockdown, but there were even larger differences when it came to Asian supermarkets. Due to the increasing hateful views on Asians and their culture, businesses were avoided and I witnessed shops that were once lively become desolate. Angela Hui, a journalist based in Wales, details how “​​racism spreads faster than most epidemics”, with reports of a 50% drop in businesses across London’s Chinatown. Interviews by Josh Barrie show us the sudden emptiness in restaurants and shops, partially due to the decrease in tourism, but also because of the rising hate. The perspectives I portray in my outcome are through my own eyes, something that will hopefully resonate with people who identify as and support the Asian-British community, as we ask, ‘where did everybody go?’. To push this narrative further, I inserted quotes reported from victims of these racist attacks, and also from Donald Trump who only catalysed these hate crimes by calling Covid-19 the ‘Chinese virus’.