Diary of a Pandemic: May 15, 2020
The eighth in a weekly series of curations of images made by Magnum photographers around the world, working and living under varying degrees of social restriction
The COVID-19 outbreak has seen most Magnum photographers restricted in their movements. As part of an ongoing photographer-led initiative, Magnum photographers are sharing information, updates, and new work made in these strange and difficult times.
Each week, we are featuring edits of these images. The images in the first six editions of the diary series were selected by project leader Peter van Agtmael, with Cristina de Middel making the selection as of last week. Here we share the latest images alongside personal notes and reflections from Magnum photographers on how they are experiencing the unfolding situation.
See all of the entries in the Diary of a Pandemic series here. New work on the crisis will be shared daily through Magnum Photos’ Instagram feed and Instagram Stories takeovers.
Alessandra Sanguinetti
Petaluma, California. USA. April 8, 2020.
“Catalina during COVID-19 quarantining.”
Chris Steele-Perkins
East Dulwich, London, GB. April 15, 2020.
“Drying face masks in my garden during the coronavirus pandemic.”
Chien-Chi Chang
Graz. Austria. 2020.
“Home during the lockdown in Austria due to the global pandemic COVID-19.”
Sim Chi Yin
“Dear Lucas,
You marked one lunar month on earth today. In good Chinese tradition, we made red-dyed eggs to celebrate this day. As a boy, we made you an odd number of eggs, as custom dictates. In this time of the pandemic, we could not go around to visit our relatives to give out the red eggs as one would usually do. Instead, we video-called your grandma, grandpa, aunty and cousins in Singapore and they made red eggs too to show you on a screen.
A month ago you had a traumatic entry into the world. Your heart rate was falling after I had been in labour for more than 20 hours in a busy hospital at the peak of the Covid 19 pandemic here in the UK. A team of doctors burst into the delivery room and pulled you out with forceps. I developed sepsis in labour and lost about one-third of my body’s blood. There was no happy, picture-perfect photo of us and Papa right after your birth, with you suckling on my chest. I was in a state of shock and no milk flowed. You too seemed dazed from been clamped over your head and yanked out. For a week after, your face bore the marks of the big metal forceps, and even now a scab remains on the right side of your head. It was not at all the birth we had planned and longed for. Pandemic-related hospital rules meant I had to labour alone for part of your birth, and one bad thing led too another. I’ve had nightmares and shed tears, but what’s important is that you are here, and we are watching you grow daily, marveling at how your eye lashes and legs grow longer and longer.
In the month since, I have been guilt-ridden about not being able to breastfeed you from the get-go, and have been playing catch-up since. It’s been an intense start to motherhood. At 41 and into my third career, I’ve done a fair bit in life, but this has got to be the toughest gig yet. It’s harder still in this lockdown here in London, where most of your health checks have been by video or phone, where we’ve found it hard to get help as new parents, or to even buy food or diapers. May things turn around by the time you mark your next lunar month here.”
Bruno Barbey
Place du Trocadero. Paris. France. May 7, 2020.
“Coronavirus crisis.”
Stuart Franklin
West Middlesex University Hospital. London. UK. 2020.
“The Intensive Care Unit where the worst affected COVID-19 patients are all fighting for their lives on ventilators.”
Moises Saman
Kings Highway. Jordan. 22 April, 2020.
“Awadallah Suleiman, a Sudanese migrant worker taking care of an empty souvenir shop along Kings Highway on the road from Amman to Petra. The coronavirus pandemic has brought Jordan’s vital tourism industry to a dramatic halt, and with it, the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers. The ancient Kings Highway is first mentioned in the Old Testament, as the route that Moses wished to follow as he led his people north through the land of Edom, now southern Jordan.”
Stuart Franklin
West Middlesex University Hospital. London. UK. 2020.
“Emergency department and COVID patient. West Middlesex University Hospital where medical staff are fighting COVID-19. On the day these photographs were taken the highest UK death toll was announced — 980.”
Stuart Franklin
West Middlesex University Hospital London. UK. 2020.
“Radiology department examining the scan of lungs of a COVID patient. West Middlesex University Hospital where medical staff are fighting COVID-19. On the day these photographs were taken the highest UK death toll was announced — 980.”
Bruno Barbey
Les Invalides. Paris. France. 7 May 2020.
“Coronavirus crisis.”
