Covid Diaries — VikramValluri

Covid Diaries

The photographs in this series serve as a personal diary, visually chronicling my days of isolation in both Brooklyn and SF Bay Area

MARCH 2020’ Isolated in Bushwick apartment, I heard Willie Colon blasting through the window, there was still some life outside. Can I still go out? I don’t need to, but should I? I do have underlying lung issues, maybe it’s not a good idea to go out. But I need to stock up on food. But wait, what about rent, I need to work. There’s no work - if I can’t go out.

My hands are pruned from washing dishes, doing laundry in the sink and cleaning every bit of produce I bought from the grocery store. My bathroom has turned into a drying rack.

Days of editing, sequencing images, walks in and out of the kitchen, indoor bike rides, cooking and pondering my next step lingered. Maybe I should get out of NYC. I have no way of knowing how long this is going to last. I want to see nature, I want to see my family.

APRIL 2020’ Alright, I’ll go out and bike. Rockaways? LIC? 2am through NYC? Why not? Bike all the bridges in NYC? Sure, why not? Damn I could’ve been doing this the entire time. I feel safe. No one’s here.

Finally some peace of mind, yet feeling guilty knowing that people were ill, dying, immunocompromised. Maybe I should just chill. So I did, on the 3rd floor of my Bushwick apartment.

The contrast of the life I was living in Brooklyn, NY versus my home in the Bay Area was drastic - Outdoor space, the beach, the mountains, should I just dip? But why? It’s been two years of being in NYC and I’m loving every moment of it except this one right here. Am I giving up if I leave? What does that mean regarding work, my career, my friends?

MAY 2020’ What was already known about this country was once again brought to the surface. Justice for George Floyd, Breanna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery.

JUNE 2020’ Is it over yet? It’s getting to me. I have no idea when this is going to end. It’s summer in NYC yet feels so desolate. I’m getting out.