Artist Philippa Found’s Lockdown Love Stories project emerged during the early days of the pandemic. Through anonymous submissions, people shared their unfiltered stories. From exes to being single, hookups to breakups, dating, situationships, friendships, and relationships, these aren’t love stories; they’re stories about love.
Beyond lockdown, the project thrived, collecting over 1,500 stories. Philippa’s book, It’s Complicated, showcases over 250 curated pieces, peeling back the layers of modern relationships. Each story offers a glimpse into others’ lives, cultivating empathy and reminding us of our shared humanity. By reading these experiences, we learn to understand and embrace ourselves better – our desires (or lack of) and those burning, suffocating, uncomfortable feelings.
It’s Complicated is a mosaic of human connections in all their shades – from breaking up to making out, quiet contentment to agonising loneliness, sexting to ghosting, friendships to ‘fuckboys’, pregnancy loss to profound fulfilment.
Philippa Found is a feminist storyteller. Believing the personal is political, she is an artist, writer, and curator based in London. Her work spans performance, text, participatory art, public interventions, video, and installation, using storytelling as a radical act to counter the shame silencing that oppresses women’s hidden realities, from desire and relationships to motherhood and the body.
She is the creator of lockdownlovestories.com (May 2020 – ongoing), a participatory art project that allowed the public to anonymously submit their true stories about how lockdown impacted their relationships. The artwork, which includes over 1,500 true stories, was awarded a London Community Story Grant by the GLA and Mayor of London, to gather insights for post-pandemic mental health policy.
Phillipa’s book, It’s Complicated, will be available to buy in person from Newham Bookshop on the night.
Age Recommendation:
16+
Price: *All ticket prices below include a £1 booking fee*
In person: Standard £10 • Living Support £7 • Students £7 • Members FREE
Online: Standard £7 • Members FREE
Access Information
Due to the age and Grade II listing of the building, there is no lift access to rooms above the ground floor.
All the ground-floor rooms are fully accessible by wheelchair. Main Hall (street access, step-free), Brockway Room (street access, step-free), Bertrand Russell Room (street access, shallow ramp), Hive Cafe (street access, step-free). There is also an accessible toilet on the ground floor opposite the Brockway Room.
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Further Info
This event will be held with an in-person audience at Conway Hall and online via livestream. Everyone wishing to join this event must register for a ticket in advance.
If you have any accessibility enquiries, please contact us at info@conwayhall.org.uk / 020 7405 1818.