Peter Turnley : Le visage humain du Covid-19 à New York

On the train from Queens heading to Manhattan. Today was a grey, rainy, troubling day, as the coronavirus toll surged in New York and I witnessed so many ambulances arriving at the emergency room of Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, one of the most intense emergency rooms in the world at this time at the center of New York’s coronavirus crisis. March 29, 2020. © Peter Turnley. ID# 07-021

Earlier I photographed a bus driver who had pulled up to the corner of 81st and Columbus. As I was photographing him through the front windshield of his bus, he put his hands in front as if to make a prayer. There are so many people that make our world go around, every day, that work hard, often for fairly low pay, that truly are essential to our lives. I truly hope that when this is all over, and it will be over, that as a society, and a country, that we don't simply pay thanks to these heroes, in a sort of bourgeois way, as happens so often, like thinking that thanking the troops for service is a form of patriotism though so many people would never allow their own children to go and fight-I hope that we will review on so many levels are sense of priority as a society-and make sure that every one has access to healthcare as a right and all children have access to good public education. If there could be anything positive that emerges from this horrible war and ordeal-it may be that as a society we review and learn from this experience-that not only are we all in this together-but in a world where we can all be proud-fairness and decency must be what we value most. April 4,2020. © Photograph by Peter Turnley. ID# 12-001

Harry, 63, stands at the back of a subway car next to a homeless man that has taken shelter in the train. I ask him what he does in life and he replied, “I just try to help out.” March 26, 2020 ©Peter Turnley. ID# 04-007

Today, a wonderful man was put to rest. Anthony “Tony” Thomas worked as a Paramedic for 36 years. On Easter Sunday, April 12th, he died of Covid-19 related causes. He was a true hero. A ceremony took place today, April 30, at the McLaughlin and Sons Funeral Home in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, New York. Tony was sent off on his way to burial with a ceremony with his friends and colleagues from all over the New York Area. He was a hero. May he rest in peace. God bless. April 30, 2020. © Peter Turnley. ID# 32-001

Today I have been inside most of the day. I went out to buy some food at a local grocery store, and I came across Priscilla, worshiping the sun. She was careful to be six feet from her neighbor and I stayed that distance while making this photograph. We spoke for a short while. She told me, "it is so sad to stay inside all day-I had to come out and get some sun". We all understand well her sentiments. Some times there are people and gestures that become a metaphor for something many are feeling and thinking. March 27, 2020. © Peter Turnley. ID# 05-001

Today I stayed home all day, and went out to buy some groceries. As I returned where I stay on a street on the Upper Westside, I saw a man standing on the sidewalk, waving with a gentle smile to someone in a window. I stopped and the gentleman departed, and in the window I saw Roxie, a 90 year old woman, who everyone knows on the this street. At this moment in her life, she can not walk, and she is always sitting at the window, and is known to almost all residents on the street. I made this photograph of her, and when I was finished, she put her hand to her mouth and blew me a kiss. I asked her is she was okay and she replied, "I am fine, and if I need anything I will give you a call". We are living through a serious storm that has blown into all of our lives. Roxie put everything into a certain perspective for me today. She has lived through 90 years of good and bad weather, and after all this time, she looks out at the world, happy to connect with everyone who lives near her, and gives us all hope and courage. If I can find and demonstrate only a fraction of the grace she shows, always, I will feel very blessed. And, this moment, and this photograph, remind me, with all of the beauty of the freedom to travel, there is glory, and light, to be noticed and found, right next door. March 30, 2020 © Peter Turnley. ID# 08-001

When I arrived at the Times Square stop to change trains to head up town, a young couple, Stephon, 24, and Fidaus,21 and originally from Ghana, were sitting close together on a bench waiting or the train. I asked them if they were a couple and they said yes. I asked them how they were making it and they told me “it’s scary, and there is so much chaos-but we have kind of become closer together during this time”. As always, I was reminded that there is only one thing that gives us power and hope, and that is love. March 29, 2020. © Peter Turnley. ID# 07-019

Daniel and Emily live in Brooklyn and they've been trying to plan a wedding for awhile. Daniel's parents immigrated to the US from Mexico and he was born in New York, and Emily immigrated to the US from Equador when she was a very young girl. They both met in New York. "planning the wedding under these circumstances was very stressful. With the crisis, the marriage office in New York is closed, so we had to go to New Jersey where we could get a marriage license and were married there today. We had to limit the number of people that could attend our wedding. This is not the wedding we wanted, but it is the one we needed. We are happy despite everything." April 25, 2020. © Peter Turnley ID# 30-007

As I exited Zabar's yesterday afternoon. the store that has essentially kept me alive with food these past three weeks, I saw this gentleman standing in line waiting to enter the store. I had my camera on my shoulder as I always do, and upon seeing this man-me wearing a mask-I shouted, "you are so handsome, do you mind if I make a photograph of you". Without speaking, he nodded his head in approbation and I made this photograph. I then asked him his name, and he made a motion again without speaking that it was not necessary to know his name. He is right. It isn't necessary to know his name. I have thought a lot over night about this man and this moment. It is true he is not wearing a mask, and please, do not make any comments to that effect-any comment won't change the fact that yes-he is not wearing a mask. But maybe he was doing something, many things, more than that in this case. This man, who clearly has lived a few years of this past century and certainly has seen a lot in his own life-with his choice of clothes, his hat, his gloves, his posture, his cane, his way of being-maybe he has chosen on this Passover and Easter weekend, to stand up, and with the elegance and grace which is clearly part of who he is-he has chosen to make a defiant statement at this moment and say clearly and loudly, "F.... You" to coronavirus. "You can try-but you will not take away my dignity, my pride, my courage, my hope, and my life-so just go away, and don't even try to "F" with me ". And maybe that was his way of saying this for all of us. There are somethings one will never be able to purchase on the shelf of a store-pride, dignity, courage, hope, determination, resilience, humility, decency, and love. And, like so many moments in my life when I have encountered people that have taught me lessons of life I couldn't have learned in any other way than from observing them-I thank this man for standing up for all of us. God bless him, and God bless us all. April 9, 2020. @ Photogra

A gentleman with one of his first names being Laurent was out walking on Amsterdam Ave. in the 90’s. As I photographed him, he looked up at the sky and said, “it is raining hard, but it is a beautiful day!”. It is this kind of spirit that I have encountered worldwide by so many people in very difficult situations that touches my heart so deeply and gives me hope. March 23, 2020. © Peter Turnley. ID# 02-001

Rachelle and Rob on a ferry to Staten Island. They are both from Parkersburg, W. Virginia, and Rachelle is a traveling nurse who has quit her job as a nurse in a small town in Ohio, to come work with coronavirus patients in an ER in a hospital in Queens, NY.. Rachelle served in the Army as a nurse in Afghanistan,. Her boyfriend Rob, is a welder and has come to visit her on her day off. April 21, 2020. © Peter Turnley ID# 28-001

Adream, Yonte, and Joran, artists, out for some air in Times Square. I asked them where they lived and they told me they live in Harlem. I told them I lived in Harlem for 7 years and asked how things were there and they offered a memorable reply: “You know something is really wrong because now you never hear any sirens”. March 20, 2020. © Peter Turnley. ID# 01-001

Tonight I went out for groceries and as I walked down my street on the Upper Westside, I saw a beautiful young family sitting in their windowsill. I stopped and introduced myself and told them I was their neighbor and asked if I could make a photograph. They asked me what I was doing and I told them I was making a photo documentation of New York, for myself. It has been so nice to not come on strong saying to people I work for some prominent publication-but to tell the truth-I am making photographs for myself, and for the world, of this moment that affects us all. I asked them how they were doing. Maria, the mother told me, "Some days are hard and some not as much". I asked how the children were doing, Isabel, 3, and Milo, 2 months. They told me they have learned a lot about germs, and I replied that I couldn't imagine what that would feel like as a concern when you are three years old. They mentioned that Milo, 2 months, could tell that they were home much more often-and he sleeps less. As we spoke, suddenly, on the strike of 7pm, the whole street erupted in applause, and shouting of thanks to all of the healthcare workers and essential workers. This has happened now, every night for the past 5 nights. I know that this is happening all over New York, Italy, France, and likely all over the country. After making a few frames, I put down my camera and began to applaud and shout with all of my might as well. As Mark, the father, said to me afterwards-this is very cathartic. When the applause died down, Maria asked me how I was doing. Just the question meant a lot to me-from a person I had just met. This is a different story than any I have ever covered. I too and in the middle of this one. And I have a strong need, as I live alone at this time-to be with others-and the world. We are all in this together. I will never forget soon after 9/11 when I was in a sports bar in New York to see the first game the New York Yankees played. When a Yankee made the first score-ever

Clifford Jordan, 61, stands at bus stop on Amsterdam near where he lives. He told me he was out because he needs money to eat. March 24, 2020. © Peter Turnley. ID# 03-002

Yanan, a 30 year old woman from Wuhan, China, living in New York, goes out for a jog across the Brooklyn Bridge. March 26, 2020 © Peter Turnley. ID# 04-001