Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, has teamed up with the National Portrait Gallery to spearhead a community photography project that will share stories about how UK citizens are coping with the coronavirus crisis.

The project, called “Hold Still,” invites people around the UK to submit portraits of their lives under lockdown. The gallery’s website will host an online exhibition displaying 100 photos, judged by the “emotion and experience” they convey rather than technical quality, and submissions taken on an iPhone are as welcome as those from professional photographers. A further selection of images will go on show across the UK later in the year. 

“We have all seen some incredible images out there, and heard some amazing stories,” Middleton says in a statement. “Some desperately sad stories, but also some really uplifting ones as well, and I really hope that through a project like this we might be able to showcase some of these stories and to document and share a moment in time that we are all experiencing.”

The public is invited to submit photographs responding to one of three themes: “Helpers and Heroes,” “Your New Normal,” and “Acts of Kindness.” The project launched on May 7 and will be open for submissions until June 18.

The Duchess, who studied art history at university, is a patron of the National Portrait Gallery. She has also been honored by the Royal Photographic Society for her own family portraits.

“Hold Still” hopes to capture “the spirit, mood, hopes, fears, and feelings of the nation” as it continues to grapple with the public health situation. 

See some of the early submissions that have been shared on social media below. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_4LTUpHDH6/