Pandemic

Pandemic explores several Philadelphia neighborhoods during the Covid-19 pandemic starting in the spring of 2020, with a special eye to people in the current context – the architecture, the signage, the emptiness.

Many of the images here were taken mid-May in the Center City neighborhood of Rittenhouse Square, with it’s elegant park, high-rise housing for the city’s wealthy elite, shuttered fashion stores, and a growing population of homeless people busking or begging for food. Others reflect street life near the hospitals on the east side of Center City and the gathering of homeless (mostly) men at Love Park and Thomas Paine Plaza, near Philadelphia’s iconic – but closed – City Hall, where twice a day (on weekdays) food is distributed.

Still other images were taken in the so-called “Italian Market,” where the streets are mostly empty of traffic and open-air stalls for fruits, vegetables and household goods, now run by new immigrants, offer low-cost goods – to masked shoppers. The final two street portraits honor two men – one from a mosque and the other from a church – who are distributing food to those in need.

During the summer of 2020, images were added from the Homeless Community Encampment on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, a protest site and community of 150-200 people organized in June to draw attention to the lack of affordable housing and to confront City government about its hoarding of vacant properties. After Hurricane Isaias in August and a series of confrontations between the encampment organizers and city officials, on October 13, the parties reached an agreement. In return for the dismantling of the encampment, the city and the Philadelphia Housing Authority agreed to transfer 50 properties to a land trust established by the encampment residents.The city also pledged to develop housing that will include self-contained units or provide units with communal kitchens and bathrooms as alternatives to the shelter system.

Many visitors to this website, moved by these images of people who are at the mercy of the elements donated close to $10,000 for urgently-needed health and hygiene supplies at this GoFundMe campaign.

To view the images below as a full-size slide show, place your cursor over any photo and click on the magnifying glass icon that appears in the blue field. The image will open larger, with pop-out navigation arrows at the edge of the frame.