This is one of Visa pour l’Image’s flagship exhibitions this year. Peter kindly made us a choice of images and add this text!
It is a visual tribute to the humanity of all the heroes and victims, often one and the same, who have been at the epicenter, in New York, of the world war against the invisible enemy of Covid-19. , these last months.
As a documentary photographer, I have covered most of the major global reporting, including most of the world wars, over the past four decades. I found myself in New York when the Covid-19 crisis and containment began in March. On the first day of confinement, I did what was most natural for me: I went out to New York with my camera. I was stunned and shaken by what I saw. I immediately realized that this was the first time I was going to witness a world war with an invisible enemy in my home, and it became clear to me that this was going to impact every person, and every person had a history. I immediately started a New York Lockdown Visual Diary Daily Visual Diary.
Over the past 40 years, I have covered most of the major global news stories of geopolitical significance and most of the wars of the world. This is the first time that I have covered a world war, with an invisible enemy. I have been a nomad for the past 4 decades, rarely spending more than 2-3 weeks in one place. Since the onset of the coronavirus crisis, I have found myself in New York City, and like everyone else, unable to travel and subject to a city-wide lockdown. I have been out almost every day since the lockdown began, always wearing a mask, keeping a careful social distance with everyone, and then coming “home” on my own. I felt it was essential to document the human stories of that moment – the stories of the people I met, who are also, in part, “our story”.
It was not a mission and I did not work for any publication. This material has been very personal and I have kept an ongoing visual journal which was posted almost daily on social media and received a worldwide response. In some ways, ironically, while this documentation was not a professional assignment – in many ways – everything that came before in the 64 years of my life as a photojournalist – prepared me to be present and document with sweetheart, which for most of us is certainly – the most important story of our lives. It is essential that at this time in our collective lives, the stories of so many heroes and victims, of all sizes, be documented, helping to bring us together now, and for the memory.
New York – which has been one of the world’s coronavirus epicenters is a city of human beings – each with a name – an age – each with a life experience – each with a caring family – and all , like each of us, are far more important than stats, peaks, flattened curves – they are the heart and soul of this moment – and the heart and soul of our moment.
Although these pictures and stories are from New York – they stand in solidarity with every country in the world and every person in the world – everyone who has been in the middle of this war – truly a world war with an invisible enemy. Our human family in the world is in the midst of this crisis. This visual journal is also our story. With love.
Peter Turnley
A new book, A New York-Paris Visual Journal-The Human Face of Covid-19 will only be on sale on Peter Turnley’s website in two weeks: www.peterturnley.com
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