Corona in the City

“The eternal silence of this space frightens me” – Blaise Pascal, French theologian and losoof, 1623-1662.

From March 16, 2020, we are all asked to stay inside and to go out only for the most necessary. After two days, I go shopping and see that there is a queue in front of the supermarket and the pharmacy. Furthermore, in the heart of Amsterdam, it is quiet.

In the week that follows I decide to go outside every day, alone, with my camera. I want to experience that silence, I want to see the city. There is a state of mind of fear, a feeling of doom. The little bears standing behind the windows for children on ‘bear hunt’ are staring at me. The endless emptiness on big squares like Dam Square or Central Station, quieter than ever before. I want to capture this historic moment. Just as I hope that my photographing offers comfort to others, so the process of making it also offers comfort to me.

My name is Zindzi Zwietering, I am a documentary photographer and the first weeks of the Corona era I worked on a photo series. As an artist I see it as my mission to photograph the invisible. With my photo series I hope to capture the state of mind of Amsterdam in times of Corona.

Thanks to the ‘Corona desk’ of the AFK I will publish this series in the form of a photo puzzle. Together with graphic designers Robin Kamping (sjondebaron) and Sean van Steenhoven, I will create a webshop where you can buy the puzzle. Once made you can also frame and hang the puzzles. In this way the puzzle becomes a physical souvenir to a strange time. An easily accessible way to get art in your home. A way to bring the outside world inside. A way to look at a picture longer than ever.

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Zindzi Zwietering (1992, Amsterdam) is a photographer. In her work she uses photography to investigate how city dwellers relate to climate change. A question that, at a time of global climate crisis on the one hand, and an increasing percentage of people living in metropolitan areas on the other, is of social importance. Her field of work is the metropolis and she photographs everyday, urban situations that often have something temporary in them. As an artist Zwietering feels it is her mission to visualize the invisible.

www.zindzizwietering.com

by Zindzi Zwietering