[iphoneography]

Corona Diary: A City in Lockdown 2020

A stone building with decorative architectural details and carved medallion with a profile of a bearded man, city streets and high-rise buildings in the background, and white text on the lower right corner that reads, 'Yes everywhere so quiet in nyc'
View through a metal screen or grille showing a tree and a building with a white wall in the background.
A quilted white bedspread on a bed in a bedroom, with a floral painted ceramic teapot placed on a shelf above the bed.
Entrance to the 5th Avenue-53rd Street subway station in New York with signs for the E and M subway lines, advertisements for Barbershop and Haircut services, and a set of stairs leading underground.
Store window display with three beige jewelry busts on illuminated pedestals, background features patterned panels, and reflections of buildings and street outside.
Empty storefront with large glass windows displaying 'me.n.u' in pink lettering, a wooden door with a glass panel, and a cardboard ramp leading to the entrance.
Stacked yellow and black rattan chairs on a building exterior with stone concrete and metal railing
Glass doors with a sign welcoming visitors back to Hudson Yards, displaying health and safety guidelines including wearing masks, maintaining social distance, practicing good hand hygiene, and staying cool.
Empty pedestrian bridge with metal railings, casting striped shadows on the concrete walkway, over a waterfront with buildings and trees in the background.
A blue disposable glove lying on a bed of pink flower petals on the ground next to a sidewalk and a stone wall.
A high-heeled shoe on a wet sidewalk near scattered newspapers and flyers.
A woman walking on a city sidewalk wearing shorts, a tank top, and headphones, carrying a red tote bag, with stores and cars on the street.
A young woman wearing boxing gloves and athletic clothing sparring with a man in a black jersey with 'UNDEFEATED' and the number 1 on the back in a park surrounded by greenery.
A woman wearing a red cap with 'HOMIES' written on it, a face mask, gloves, and a black T-shirt that says 'WE RUN THIS CITY,' standing behind a bar counter in a restaurant or bar, with shelves of glassware and bottles in the background.
Person in a black jacket, green cap, blue jeans, and face mask holding a large metal megaphone standing outside a restaurant with glass doors, illuminated interior, red chairs, and signs.
Close-up of a chain-link fence decorated with pink and orange ribbons tied into bows, with construction pipes, cones, and tools visible behind the fence.
Red and blue toy shopping cart with 'Let's Play' sticker outside a store window, reflecting city street scene.
A man wearing a blue jacket and jeans standing in an arched corridor, gesturing with his hands, with stairs visible in the background and a person sitting on the bench to the right.
A bronze sculpture of a man and woman in an intimate pose, with the man leaning on a tree trunk and the woman standing close, both with masks hanging around their necks, set against lush green foliage.
Storefront with yellow curtains and 'GUCCI' sign above window.
Reflection of a historic building with ornate balconies and windows on a glass skyscraper
White arrow pointing forward on sidewalk with blue chalk text above it reading 'Happiness, Chi, Way'.
A police officer wearing a helmet and face mask standing behind a barricade in an urban area with high-rise buildings and police vehicles in the background.
Police car with flashing lights driving past a brick building at night, with parked cars and trees in the background.
Wooden surface with a shadow cast over part of it.
Building entrance with plywood covering door and windows, sign above reads 'Hauseer & Wirth'.
Construction scaffolding surrounding a closed storefront with a black sign that reads "Gemelmans Bar" in yellow cursive letters. The storefront appears to be under renovation with plywood covering the exterior wall.
A group of people riding bicycles across a city street at a crosswalk, with traffic lights and green trees lining the street.
A glass door with a quote written on it that says, "YOU WILL NEVER BEAT NEW YORK." The street and some buildings are reflected in the glass.

Corona Diary is a series of photographs and a short film made on an iphone, which speaks to a city and its people at the epicenter of a worldwide pandemic. With Covid-19 changing the world as we knew it, I documented in a visual diary format New York City in spring 2020.

For Corona Diary the focus was on an unusual spring when the city battled a virus. As Covid-19 did not discriminate, New Yorkers became on equal playing field. Essential workers, especially those in healthcare, were superheroes while most New Yorkers sheltered in place. The personal and collective experience of lockdown and quarantine captivated me as I looked within and outside myself to make pictures on daily walks in my neighborhood.

Surgical gloves and masks, which New Yorkers began wearing as preventative measures since the onset of the pandemic, were the new normal. It was spring, a blue glove was tossed to the ground among pink petals on the avenue. The photo captured the arrival of spring, on Park Avenue, otherwise lined with flowers and cherry blossoms. Cloth face masks covered the mouths of the Romeo and Juliette statue, bronze figures’ embracing, in front of the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Stirring up feelings of separation and isolation the image reminded me of the desire for contact and intimacy. Masks are temporary and deteriorate while love is indestructible. Will love conquer all?

Faced with challenges New Yorkers became epic actors, such was the pizzeria employee striking a metal bowl on the sidewalk - clang, clang, clanging - in celebration of essential workers. A man sang gospel music beneath the arches of Bethesda Terrace in Central Park, couples danced to accordion music alongside the boat pond, and on Third Avenue a South African bartender intrepidly served drinks to all who ventured in.

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Appreciations

“Your photos are incredible. Each one says so much about this time and together they tell such a powerful story and show the city as we’ve never seen it before. Somehow it feels that its soul has been laid bare and we can see it and its beauty more clearly and feel sustained by it in a way that is so stark and new. Like going to another city, but it’s ours — our dearly beloved, bruised and beaten but never defeated New York. Thank you for creating this important photographic diary.” 

— Lisa Katzman, documentary filmmaker, journalist, and screenwriter

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*You Will Never Beat New York received 16 laurel awards from indie film festivals between 2020 and 2025

What was striking about New York City during Covid was the emptying out of the city, starkness bared, busyness absent. Images of desertion were everywhere with businesses shuttered for good.

Messages of hope persisted in the new landscape, “You Will Never Beat New York” was scrawled across a bar window and “Happiness is this way” spray-painted on the sidewalk. A miniature toy shopping cart with words “Let’s Play” sent a message about the desire to thrive: New York and the world may be down … but not out.

Since I made the Corona Diary photographs, a number of events occurred: my snapshot project ended as civil unrest began. In 2020 protesters gathered to speak out against racism and millions around the country joined Black Lives Matter (BLM). 

A tricky infectious disease, social unrest, high unemployment and crime, analysts predicted years of financial recovery. What became of a post-pandemic New York City? 

Hindsight is 20/20 and I like to think that my photographs and short You Will Never Beat New York added to the dialogue on the pandemic, its aftermath, and a belief in a city and world waiting to reinvent …

~ Roberta Fineberg