Through Windows and Doorways, This Photographer Has Been Capturing Poignant Images of Isolated New Yorkers—See Them Here

The Brooklyn photographer and conceptual artist Ventiko normally conducts her
practice entirely in her studio. But as New York City entered
lockdown, the sudden onset of self-isolation compelled her to
devise a new way to capture images—from six feet away, for a series
called “From the Outside Looking In.”

“It was inspired by looking at what had happened around the rest
of the world,” Ventiko told Artnet News. “The naivety that it
somehow wouldn’t affect us here in the States, and then watching
the city and everything that I had known as normal disappear almost
over night—it was pretty terrifying.”

On March 21, as the state prepared to enter lockdown, Ventiko
took out her bike for the first time in years and set out to visit
friends who also lived in Brooklyn, photographing them from behind
doors and through windows, or on the street as they peered out from
fire escapes. (Rest assured that Ventiko is taking appropriate
safety measures at all times: “I’m wearing two masks, I have
gloves, I have hand sanitizer—I’m beyond paranoid. As soon as I
come in the house, I take off all my clothes and shower,” she
says.)

“Words, images—nothing seems able to relate the emotional
experience that we’re all sharing—so I just started documenting,”
she said. “I just want to contribute to the history of
humankind.”

Ventiko hopes that the photographs illustrate the ways in which
we all remain connected despite the physical distance currently
keeping us apart.

The project is an emotional one for the artist, who is a New
York resident of over 13 years and who lives alone. Each portrait
session lasts about 20 minutes—”it’s like this unspoken feeling
that we have to stop, that we’re going to get caught”—before she
gets back on the road. The longest of these solitary journeys was
to Riverdale in the Bronx, which took nearly 12 hours
roundtrip.

“The city gave me life and now I’m peddling through the streets
and there are trucks of the dead,” Ventiko said, her voice
breaking. “This is a place where so many people come to find
themselves, and it’s really tragic that it’s a place where so many
people are being lost right now.”

The series consists of striking, evocative tableaus, shot
through doorways and window frames. And even in these uncertain
times, Ventiko found that many of the greatest things about New
York remain the same: its resilience, its beauty, its strength.

See more photos from the series below.

The post Through Windows and Doorways, This Photographer Has
Been Capturing Poignant Images of Isolated New Yorkers—See Them
Here appeared first on artnet News.