Gallery

Video by Pasky Miranda

Every day NHS staff samples arrive at the LAMP facility for routine Covid-19 screening.

Despite the grim times we worked in, there are plenty of joyful memories of our time there.

The facility's shutdown on 31/12/2021 will bring a certain bittersweetness.

This is a memento of our LAMPlife.

PaskyMirandaLAMPlife._109637193_ADayInLamp1.mp4

Description

The camera offers us the point of view of the author:

We see the Walmgate Stray as the author cycles through it.

On screen: 6:58 am

The author riding to a cycle parking rack.

On screen: York

We see a fellow cyclist getting ready to get inside.

On screen: LAMPlife.

We enter the Biology building using a staff card, and deposit belongings in a blue locker.

A colleague lets us into a laboratory.

We makes a cup of tea and takes it to their desk.

We now follow the author through the processing of samples:

A printer spills out a long row of stickers, going over the edge of the desk.

The author turns on laboratory equipment.

A collegue processes samples with a pipette.

We go to a second lab, the author puts on PPE and turns on the radio.

Another colleague is scanning kits unto the computer.

The samples move on to a different colleague for further processing.

The samples are transferred to the neighbouring station, where another colleague continues to process them.

We puts away the samples in a sealable opening in the wall that connects to the adjacent laboratory. We go to the laboratory next door and the author put on a new set of PPE.

Wer retrieve the samples from the opening in the wall and hands the over to a colleague for further processing.

We see various colleagues performing different tasks in the laboratory.

The samples are put in a machine for testing before submerging them in liquid and refrigerating them.

We return to the first laboratory, where we chat with some colleagues who are having tea and snacks.

On screen: LAMPlife.

Inspiration

The mix of routine, repetitiveness, laughter, and friendship that pervades the LAMP facility.

I wanted this short video to provide a brief insight into the LAMP lab, which is rarely if ever seen by anyone outside the lab. However, this work is just as much a tribute to the people working there and the memories of our time there.