The pandemic disrupted the lives of everyone everywhere. After the shutdown of New York in March, many of us returned home and others stayed in the city facing the epicentre of COVID-19. From Thailand to Argentina, no matter where we all ended up to be, quarantine is our new way of living. This is how 16 of us are experiencing, documenting and coping with this global crisis.
Violette Franchi – @violettefranchi
Location: Southern Alps, France.
Here, I’ve been inspired by bodies and landscapes, and lately I have been photographing shapes and structure in my own intimacy with myself, with my partner, with the new space I just landed on after months and months in New York City.
Luca Jardim – @lucajardim
Location: Iporanga Beach, Guarujá, Brasil.
I am privileged to be located in a gated community close to the beach (even though it’s closed) and nature. I take daily walks which help me breathe and stay sane. It’s good to see that the earth is still the same, with birds singing and waves hitting the sand every day. I’m inspired to photograph the daily life in this condominium at this period, which was supposedly a place where people came to spend weekends or vacations, and now we are living here, while every day “the sun is the same in a relative way, but you’re older”.
William Hickey – @ahickeysituation
Location: Arlington, Massachusetts, my hometown.
I have moved away from here quite a few times, but I always seem to return. I have mixed feelings about being here, this wasn’t my plan, but if there was going to be a pandemic, I’m not going to complain about being stuck with the people I love most in the world. I am with my family every day and this will probably be the last time we all live together like this. That’s where I get my inspiration. When this has all passed, I will always have these pictures and these memories.
Gili Benita – @gilibenita
Location: my apartment in Ridgewood, New York.
I am mostly inspired by different films lately. Twin Peaks, Old Boy and also Chunking express. Also a lot of lectures with different people such as Sally Mann, Stephen Shore and also Cate Blanchett. Lately I have been photographing my roommate and his new partner that came to live with us in the apartment.
Netnarin Padungjirapuntip – @makemydays365
Location: New York.
When New York became the center of the outbreak of coronavirus, I decided to take the riskt, I needed to go out and make pictures. It’s incredibly useful both for myself and on a historical level to keep a daily record of what goes on around the city during this difficult times. I’ve been photographing the 7 p.m. clapping for essential workers.
Seung Jae Seo – @wittgens1
Location: I’m breathing in a small apartment in Brooklyn, New York.
Although it’s not easy to be isolated for a longtime, the COVID-19 pandemic gives me an opportunity to look back at my life and people around me. Sometimes we forget the importance of small things around us. For example, we don’t realize how thankful being able to breathe until we can’t breathe anymore. I want to share small things that I found around my life during COVID-19 through the lens.
Minik Bidstrup – @bidstrupp
Location: Upper West Side in Manhattan.
Lately I find myself inspired by the music of Wojciech Golczewski, when I am out at night photographing in the streets.
Napat Wesshasartar – @tar.napatw
Location: Bangkok, Thailand.
I’m inspired about the inequality in my home country which it’s now easier to see, how big is the difference between the underprivileged and privileged classes. I’m photographing my love-hate relationship world, and also an ongoing project about the sport industry, related to the pandemic.
Lucía Vázquez – @luciavazquezph
Location: Buenos Aires City, Argentina.
The national quarantine has kept me inside for six weeks now. Inspired by the little I could see of the outside world, I followed and photographed my neighbors’ daily routines and activities in their balconies, the closest place to the sun we have, trapped in a domino of concrete buildings of seven floors and up. Lately, I’ve been turning more to the inside, capturing the light entering through the windows, portraits and moments of my loved ones at home.
Fuxuan Xin – @xinfuxuan
Location: Fort Lee, New Jersey.
What inspired me to do these is just the unsettle feeling of the current situation with the virus, which is constantly circulation in my head, even with the arrival of spring.
Flo Razowsky – @flowalksfree
Location: Brooklyn, New York.
Lately, my inspiration comes from processing the new world around us, capturing the off balance nature of this new normal, tracking the passage of time by photographing out the front window each morning…
Srini Venkateswaran – @srini.vee
Location: Tribeca, New York City.
I am inspired by the presence of people who are venturing out while conforming to ‘social distancing’ norms. I have been photographing street scenes in downtown Manhattan. The city never sleeps… it is just taking a rest break, I would like to think.
Jordana Bermudez – @jbtph
Location: Brooklyn, New York.
I love researching what other photographers/artists are doing to keep theirs spirits up and stay creative through Covid-19. I feel inspired by watching A24 films and finding new podcasts and series. I do yoga 3-5 times a week and I try to photograph often through FaceTime or from my rooftop. Since the last week of march I’ve been documenting the daily life of my East Williamsburg neighbors, playing frisbee, reading, smoking weed, tanning on a towel, having small gatherings, exercising or clapping and cheering at 7:00 pm. Each photograph shows someone on a rooftop, balcony or window.
Itamar Dotan Katz – @itado10
Location: New York.
I’ve been photographing since before the pandemic a Jewish community called The New Shul and now I’m documenting their transition to Zoom and and how they deal with spirituality, religion and sense of community in an online space. Seeing how they can still have that sense of community is inspiring me, how they can still have moments through a computer. These portraits were for a school assignment, inspired by Katy Grannan’s portrait of Robert Frank.
Rebecca Fudala – @refudala
Location: Manhattan, New York.
I’ve been doing self portraiture and a study of the light and shadow that illustrate confinement and separation from the world outside.
Ximena Natera – @menanatera
Location: I’m from Mexico City but currently living and under self isolation in Brooklyn, New York.
Deciding to staying in the US instead of going back home was a hard decision, but after much discussion with my family we decided that the best and safest was to stay here. I have a network of friends, teachers and neighbors who makes me feel safe and not alone and that has been fundamental. The firsts couple of weeks after my roommates left I became terrified of the outside so I began to photograph my apartment following the light that comes through the window in the sunny days and eventually myself, something I had never done before. For inspiration, but mainly for a sense of companionship, I have been following closely the work of my peers in different parts of the world, from newspaper photographers in Mexico to regional collectives in Latin America and Spain. Also I have found a lot of comfort and inspiration in the work of women who have explored the notions of caring, nurturing and the process of rebuilding in situations of hardship, from Svetlana Alexsievich, to Daniela Rea, Rita Segato and Agnes Varda. I also talk to my mom almost daily, usually while we both cook dinner.
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