MANHATTAN IN QUARANTINE

2020

 6k digital video, color, 10 minutes, 2020

Manhattan is one of the most densely populated places on Earth. In 2020, the novel corona virus forced many countries and cities to shutdown for fear of spreading the contagion. Many cities implemented social distancing protocols and in some cases, quarantine. New York State Governor, Andrew Cuomo, directed the closure of all non-essential business while many residents of New York City voluntarily left to second homes or vacation destinations. As with the cholera epidemics of the 19th Century, this behavior led to further spreading of the pathogen.

The viral exposed the many under-lying ails of the city, including sanitation, socioeconomic inequity, and systematic racism. The previous years of repeated videos showing violence by police against people of color fomented with the horizontal lynching of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Protest for immediate culpability and systematic change paralleled the frustrations of the exploitation of capital and possession, manifesting in riots across the city.

This is a vignette of Midtown Manhattan during the 2020, SARS-COV-2 pandemic.

Shot June 14, 2020.