Turning Chaos into Creativity

He came; he saw; he felt; he shot. Art Director and Photographer Johan Vipper’s Covid Photo Essay is an artifact capturing New York City in a year like no other. During the first six months of quarantine, Johan processed the collective trauma we were all experiencing by hitting the streets with his camera in tow. The result was hundreds of beautiful photographs documenting the city that never sleeps in a state of forced slumber. We couldn’t let Johan’s work pass us by so we created a book of his photos, and then paired them with another project that didn’t yet have a home. The ThoughtMatter team had begun recording the sounds of their new normal as an attempt to capture the moment. Their recordings highlighted the incessant and ominous hum of sirens, helicopters and honking horns, but also the solitude of the Hudson River, windchimes, birds chirping, and the sounds of change as people took to the streets to fight for racial equality. At ThoughtMatter, the right response to cultural events big and small is the most authentic response. Here, marrying Johan’s photographs and the staff’s audio recordings into a video format was our way of reacting to and preserving a time of darkness, pain and uncertainty that won’t soon be forgotten.

• East River Park

• Tompkins Square Park

• Spring Street

• Broome Street

• Bowery