Recovery: A Reflection on Crisis, Connection, and the Invisible Forces Within | Fiona Haines

"Recovery" is an immersive exhibition that invites visitors to reflect on the journey from collective crisis to personal healing. It moves from the global to the intimate, exploring the interplay between our external realities and internal ecosystems. At its heart is a contemplation of the quiet, unseen microbial lives that support our recovery from within. Through this lens, the exhibition offers a space for connection, resilience, and renewal; encouraging reflection on how healing unfolds both around us and inside us.

Like many, I lived through the pandemic but for me, it also meant returning to a previous Public Health career, leading a virtual team for PHE/UKHSA. What unfolded was a strange kind of isolation: cameras off, voices muted, faces vanished. I found myself staring into a digital void, searching for meaning in silence. In that blankness, I became acutely aware of how much we rely on the tiniest of cues: glances, gestures, expressions to connect and to feel human. Without them, we aren’t truly seeing each other; we’re just confronting black rectangles, hoping for connection.

Fiona Haines