Closed Until Further Notice: Boston during the coronavirus pandemic
Steven Edson | Boston, United States
Photographer: Steven Edson
Exhibit Title: Closed Until Further Notice: Boston during the coronavirus pandemic
Location: Boston, United States
As I explore and document Boston neighborhoods, the city looks and feels empty under a lock-down with a few exceptions. Stores are closed, food is prepared and left on tables outside the front doors for take-out. Food shopping is controlled by lines and distance markers with directions to navigate the aisles marked by arrows on the floors. Most people use face masks but I am somewhat surprised at how a fair number of people flaunt the recommendations of health care professionals and risk infecting others. Mental illnesses aside, arrogance and self-centered attitudes continue to exist. Maybe Darwin's theories will take its toll but unfortunately, it will also take the innocent and vulnerable as well.
To make photographs during this period of time speaks to my hopes that there is a future where people will look back on this event with awe and sadness for the 100's of thousands of American people who have died from this illness. These images will be a small collection of photographs available for researchers, archivists, and historians looking for artifacts and visual documents of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
It feels very strange.... like time has stood still and we are all in a post-apocalyptic science fiction movie, but in this case, it's very real. I look out the window of my home and it all looks so normal but I know the world isn't right. I am not alone in this bad dream. With protests growing and cities ablaze I am amazed the difference a day makes and the health concerns for safe social distancing have evaporated and yet we know the virus is active in our community.
I am reminded at the contradiction of both how spoiled we are for instant gratification which is so steeply engrained in how many people conduct their daily lives and conversely how those impulses help to keep people employed and an economy moving forward.
Steven Edson
www.stevenedson.net
https://stevenedson.net/blog/closed-until-further-notice-2020
steve@stevenedson.net
617-993-3212 studio / 617-504-4994 cell
Make Comment/View Comments
