Black Lives Matter in the Time of Covid

Focus

My photographic work during the COVID-19 pandemic begins in late March of 2020 and documents people and street life in the early days of the pandemic, and then shifts to extensive coverage of the Black Lives Matter movement from the end of May through the fall of 2020.

 History

I am a photojournalist and documentary photographer, and when the city went into lockdown during the early days of the pandemic, I felt compelled to see what the city looked like and what people were doing outside of their homes. I took long walks or bike rides almost every day and ventured to neighborhoods that were within reach of my home on the Upper West Side:  Harlem, Spanish Harlem, Washington Heights. I mostly focused on portraits of people who were generally out for a bit of air or exercise or shopping.  I often asked their names and chatted with them briefly.  As the city gradually opened up, I ventured further in my car, sometimes to Coney Island or Brighton Beach, and made photographs in different neighborhoods. 

At the end of May, when the Black Lives Matter protests erupted in response to the killing of George Floyd, I felt compelled to photograph the protests.  I shifted gears from documenting daily life in the city during the pandemic to covering the protests every single day. I spent much of the summer covering the countless protests and continued following them throughout the fall. In addition to extensively covering the protests, I photographed the frequent marches and celebrations surrounding the Presidential Election.

Collection

5,000 digital photographs

 Form of Collection

My collection consists of hi-res digital photographs, and some video taken on an i-phone, which are stored on hard drives in my office.  

Emphasis

The early part of my work, from March through May, focuses on The Upper West Side, Harlem, Spanish Harlem. The photographs of Black Lives Matter Protests were taken primarily in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and include an enormous variety of people, from the activists marching, to the New Yorkers on the sidelines watching and cheering the protestors, to the NYPD who followed each march.

Time Period

While this specific project spans from March of 2020 to the present, my photographic archive as a whole encompasses work from 1988 until the present. It includes coverage of the Tiananmen Square Democracy Movement in 1989, events in Israel in 1994, two years of documenting the city of Barcelona before the 1992 Olympics, and countless other domestic and international events, stories, and portraits.  

Public Access

Some of my work from 2020 is currently available to view on my website:

www.ericalansner.com

I am also working on a dedicated website just for the Black Lives Matter Protests.

 Director

Erica Lansner

390 Riverside Drive, 12F

NYC, NY 10025

Contact Person

Erica Lansner

Email: erica@ericalansner.com

Telephone number: 917-414-7189

Website: www.ericalansner.com