Covid: NHS workers celebrated with Oxford art installation

NHS workers attended the opening of the installation in South Park, Oxford

Life-size cutouts of 300 NHS workers have been unveiled in an park to celebrate the work staff have done during the pandemic.

The Standing with Giants installation in South Park, Oxford, was designed by Witney-based artist Dan Barton.

Mr Barton said it showed workers who had died "will not be forgotten".

He hopes the artwork, which will be displayed until 1 August, will go on tour to raise money for NHS charities.

The figures, made from recycled building waste, were cut out by volunteers and include 60 different designs.

Original photographs of NHS staff, including doctors, nurses, paramedics and porters, were used and "adjusted and manipulated" to reflect different characteristics.

The backs of the silhouettes are black so people can write messages of support on them

"It's been three months of really hard work and we've done our tribute to the NHS and the fallen who died while working on the front line," Mr Barton said.

"We don't seem to have anywhere in the country where people can come to grieve and reflect, and what's most important is we look to the future and try to use our freedom wisely.

"It's always been fought for by someone. A faceless person somewhere has suffered so we can have our freedom."

The backs of the silhouettes are black to allow people to write messages of support for NHS workers.

Hundreds of health and social care workers have died with Covid-19 since March 2020.

The figures will remain in South Park until 1 August

Kathryn Smith, a nurse from Yorkshire, attended the unveiling in Oxford.

"It's amazing, it's got a real wow factor," she said.

"It's quite emotional to be stood [sic] here seeing all the figures and thinking that people have lost their lives."

The installation took three months to create and follows similar displays by Mr Barton at Blenheim Palace last November and the Aston Rowant Nature Reserve in 2019.

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