'This moment is leaving a mark on me': framing Rio under Covid-19's shadow

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"He arrived in Rio on 3 March to make a short film about traditional medicine in Brazil’s semi-arid interior, but the pandemic shelved the project. Isolating in Rio’s beachside Ipanema neighbourhood, Lanfranchi discovered that the great composer Tom Jobim had written many of his bossa nova classics in an apartment in his building, including Chega de Saudade (Enough of Longing), most famously recorded by João Gilberto.

That nostalgia infected Lanfranchi and he sought to take photos that captured time standing still and the fearful melancholy of a city where life was on hold.

He bought N95 masks, found a driver who knew the city and began working out how to photograph the pandemic when so many situations – health centres and hospital wards – were inaccessible. He cleaned his equipment with alcohol gel, and changed and washed his clothes each time he got home."

read newstory by Dom Phillips on photographer Nicolò Lanfranchi

and see the photo gallery

This moment is leaving a mark on me': framing Rio under Covid-19's shadow | Global development | The Guardian