Print 'Human' reconstruction album cover by Robert Speker, 2020. Produced with Sydmar Lodge Care Home residents and staff during the first Covid-19 Lockdown in the UK. Copying an album cover by Rag'n'Bone Man, Sheila appears seated in a black and white striped top, arms folded across the back of a chair, showing tattoos. Lettering in white bottom centre. Printed at the size of a standard LP record sleeve.

This set of 12 Care Home Album Covers attracted significant media attention in July 2020 after being tweeted by photographer Robert Speker. Working as Activities Coordinator at Sydmar Lodge Care Home, North London, Speker collaborated with residents and staff to recreate a series of famous album covers. In each case the figures in the album photographs are replaced by a care home individual, and the artist’s name or album title are replaced with the new sitter’s name or a reference to the care home.

Sheila posed for this ninth photo in the series, and recreated Rag'n'Bone Man's 2017 debut album ‘Human’. Speker explains that, “Although this may not (yet) be considered an iconic album, I wanted to include this cover with Sheila for a good reason. As part of a bucket list that I set-up with residents, named Things to Do in Your Lifetime, Sheila (aged 93 at the time) wanted to go to see Rag'n'Bone Man perform live. I arranged for Sheila to have VIP tickets to On Blackheath festival and took her to see Rag'n'Bone Man perform, and even surprised her by taking her backstage beforehand to meet the singer in person. The most difficult part of this recreation was undoubtedly the copying of Rag'n'Bone Man's collection of tattoos on Sheila's hands and arms. I painstakingly copied the tattoos, hand-drawing them on to Sheila's hands and arms, much to Sheila's amusement. I picked a jumper from Sheila's wardrobe that vaguely matched that of the singer, and helped Sheila kneel on a chair to mimic the pose. For health and safety reasons, Sheila was actually supported by another staff member, whose arm was then edited out of the photo.”

These first 12 album covers produced by Speker and care home contributors were developed into a charity calendar for the Alzheimer’s Society for 2021. Together they help to capture the particular experience of those living and working in care homes during the Covid-19 pandemic, which attracted wide media attention and public criticism for seeming to be ‘abandoned’ and for the extreme isolation imposed on residents, unable to see loved ones for many months. Equally, however, Speker’s joyful work demonstrates the creativity that flowered across society during the first lockdown, and the work by many artists to offer support – whether financial or emotional – to NHS staff, the wider public, and each other.