New York can be so quiet ›ze.tt

According to a Wikipedia entry, there are at least 13 cities around the world that are said to never sleep. But the city of New York may have been the first to have this nickname. “I want to wake up in that city that never sleeps“Liza Minelli sang in the 1977 Scorsese film New York, New York – The line of text only became really well known two years later when Frank Sinatra recorded the song again.

The pictures by photographer Mariana Meraz show that the American city can definitely sleep – if it is forced to.

The first corona infection in the city was confirmed on March 1st. Three weeks followed, during which Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo left everyday life largely normal. Not until March 20th Cuomo announced massive restrictions on public life. At this point, New York was already the new epicenter of the pandemic.

The city has been forced to sleep. All non-essential businesses had to close. All unnecessary meetings were banned. The New Yorkers should stay in their apartments – tourists no longer came anyway. “New York on pause“This phase is called.

“Is this really happening or am I dreaming?”

Mariana Meraz kept a visual diary during this time. She published her photos in the illustrated book 19TIMES, which divides the pandemic in New York into 19 phases. “Timeout“Is called a chapter,”Sleep“, another, “Silent“Tells of the quiet of the city,”Nostalgia“From a New York before the pandemic. Meraz’s pictures show a largely empty city.

This emptiness is particularly impressive in places that are otherwise only known to be filled with crowds. For example New York’s Times Square: an average of 330,000 people crossed the square every day. While New York pauses, the colorful neon signs for which the square is known shine into the deserted space – a scene like from an end-of-time film. Meraz’s photos show how uncomfortable emptiness and silence can be – the pandemic is the real protagonist of the photos – even if it is nowhere tangible.

The city still had its usual glamor and beauty, but to me it looked like a body that lacks the soul – the people.

Mariana meraz

“It was very unreal, especially because I’ve always seen New York as a place full of energy, culture and life,” Meraz told dem Monopoly Shop. “New York suddenly became a city that had to sleep. The city still had its usual glamor and beauty, but to me it looked like a body that lacks the soul – the people. “

The photographer has devoted one chapter to panic. It is dated March 13th. Meraz writes: “People are starting to shop in panic and empty the shelves of supermarkets and shops. When I went shopping I thought to myself: Will this really happen or do I dream? “

A week later, the city Mitten was in crisis mode. Images of long lines in front of hospitals and trucks in which corpses are makeshift refrigerated went around the world. There are now over 200,000 confirmed infected people in New York City alone. More than 30,000 people have died.

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19TIMES was published in 2020 by Kerschensteiner Verlag.

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