On November 17, 2019, the world was changed forever.  According to the South China Morning Post, that is the earliest occurrence of what we now know as COVID 19.  This virus would rapidly spread and cause extreme measures, in all countries, to stem that spread.  In the United States, this came in many forms.  The most popular order was the “Stay at Home”.  Georgia issued their “Stay at Home” order on April 2, 2020. That order also pertained to the Atlanta metropolitan area which is home to 5.9 million people and the ninth-largest metropolitan area in the nation.  This body of work documents the empty streets of Atlanta as its residents help “flatten the curve”.

This global pandemic is unlike anything anyone alive has seen.  Although this is not the world’s first viral outbreak, it is the first one where global travel isn’t a novelty but a way of life.  Billions of people are gripped with fear and are staying in their homes, leaving it only for food or essential work.  Once bustling metropolitan areas are now ghost towns. 

It is said that Americans have memories like goldfish.  One lap around their “goldfish bowl” and they have already forgotten what happened before.  I am documenting the empty streets of Atlanta as a means to help them remember those that lost their lives during the pandemic, and to continue to wash their hands.