Five years since the UK’s first registered death from Covid-19, a unique exhibition was held at The Paper Factory in April 2025 – a large-scale installation marking the toll of the pandemic.

TOLL is an artwork and performance film by Scottish artist Andrew J Brooks. It consists of 145,652 individual 4cm-tall marks – one for each registered death in the UK in the first year of the pandemic. The resulting work spans six rolls of paper, each 10 meters long and 1.5 meters wide, using over a litre of black ink.

The artist created the work in solitude over 52 performances, one for each week’s statistics, broadcast daily on YouTube from Edinburgh’s Concrete Block Gallery. In total, the performances amount to over 37 hours of film.

Opening to the public on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th April, TOLL took advantage of the huge space available at The Paper Factory in the midst of the transformation of the space for Hidden Door’s 2025 festival in June.

The work was exhibited fully unrolled for the first time, offering an opportunity to reflect on the pandemic and its lasting impact.

Talking to us ahead of the exhibition, Andrew explained:

“The original impetus for TOLL was an act of anger, protest, recognition, and remembrance. I wanted to create a physical artefact that enables an understanding of the statistics – showing what it means in paper, ink, and time to make 145,652 marks by hand, each representing a person.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to use the Crane Shed at the Paper Factory – one of the few spaces large enough to display the work in its entirety. This unique setting allows TOLL to be shown as a single, uninterrupted column—stretching 60 meters end to end.

“Five years on, the original emotions have evolved, but with the ongoing inquiry, this anniversary feels like a vital moment to pause, reflect, and remember what we all went through—and who we lost.”

Also featured was a documentary short by award-winning filmmaker Dave MacFarlane, filmed at the midpoint of the work’s creation in 2021.

First exhibited in 2021 at Concrete Block Gallery in Edinburgh and later in 2022 at Dispensary Gallery, Wrexham, TOLL was an act of anger, protest, recognition, and remembrance – a protest against Westminster’s handling of the pandemic.

Five years later, this presentation offered a moment to consider how the meaning of the work has evolved. Displayed within the vast, defunct Paper Factory, the exhibition placed TOLL in a new context, allowing audiences to fully engage with its scale and significance, with every single mark visible for the first time.

TOLL – Five Years On by Andrew J Brooks

Exhibition Dates: 10am – 5pm, Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th April 2025

Artist Talk: 1pm, Saturday 5th April 2025

Venue: The Paper Factory, 1 Turnhouse Road, Edinburgh, EH12 8NP

Studio photos by DMtwo Media, Paper Factory exhibition photos by Chris Scott