Family in window sheltering in place — *In Place | Portraits of a Pandemic, Los Angeles, CA*

2020

**Alon Goldsmith**

Collecting Community History Initiative Digital Archives, Autry Museum; MSA.64.1.200

*In Place | Portraits of a Pandemic*:

“Since lockdown, I have been photographing Angelenos who are sheltering in place. (Physical distancing is maintained throughout.) I have also been writing stories to accompany the photographs about each household, documenting their experiences, feelings, and thoughts about life during the pandemic. The subjects of *In Place | Portraits of a Pandemic* are a random sampling of people I’ve encountered in my 35-year history in Los Angeles, as well as people I’ve met through serendipitous encounters as a result of the project. I’ve photographed rabbis, rock stars, a deaf activist from Compton, a best-selling author, a *Top Chef Masters* TV personality, the president of KCRW, the chair of Amnesty International, a homeless woman who lives on Ballona Creek, and dozens of other wonderfully interesting and diverse Angelenos.”

Community and Space

During March of 2020, as states like California, began implementing shelter-in-place-orders (SIPO) to curb transmission of the Coronavirus across the American West, many citizens found themselves relegated to the confines of their homes and the streets and major tourist areas closed. 

Over the next several months, as citizens considered the length of the SIPO on themselves and others, many become creative to highlight their anxiety, but also their resilience.

Communities of all sorts became creative by using both digital and physical spaces to replicate some semblance of normalcy during the pandemic. Particularly, refashioning Birthday parties and other social gatherings and hosting them over Zoom to using hobbies to document bare city streets and loved ones from a safe social-distance.

woman sitting in doorway with skateboard during pandemic — *Social Distancing, Culver City, CA*

2020

**Kristina Sison**

Collecting Community History Initiative Digital Archives, Autry Museum; MSA.64.1.42

*Makes Waves* photo project:

“I have actually enjoyed sitting on my stoop to get some fresh air and break up the monotony of only seeing the inside of my apartment, even though the view is of deserted lot and two porta potties. I’ve sat in my lawn chair so many times. Some friends have even stopped by to say hello and sat 12 feet away, just for us to get our social interaction fix in.”

a man in a tuxedo behind a window with a happy birthday sign — *Social Distancing, Venice, CA*

2020

**Saam Gabbay**

Collecting Community History Initiative Digital Archives, Autry Museum; MSA.64.1.144

“My birthday was in the middle of the ongoing coronavirus quarantine. I canceled a get-together at my place. Instead, I went to see my friends and family at theirs—not that I could go near them. I photographed them from outside, looking in. I scheduled a time at each location and asked that they stand at their window while I stood in their yard, on their sidewalk, or across the street. If they lived in a high-rise, I flew my drone to their window.”

Woman sheltering in place, looking out through window — *In Place | Portraits of a Pandemic, Los Angeles, CA*

2020

**Alon Goldsmith**

Collecting Community History Initiative Digital Archives, Autry Museum; MSA.64.1.200

*In Place | Portraits of a Pandemic*:

“Since lockdown, I have been photographing Angelenos who are sheltering in place. (Physical distancing is maintained throughout.) I have also been writing stories to accompany the photographs about each household, documenting their experiences, feelings, and thoughts about life during the pandemic. The subjects of *In Place | Portraits of a Pandemic* are a random sampling of people I’ve encountered in my 35-year history in Los Angeles, as well as people I’ve met through serendipitous encounters as a result of the project. I’ve photographed rabbis, rock stars, a deaf activist from Compton, a best-selling author, a *Top Chef Masters* TV personality, the president of KCRW, the chair of Amnesty International, a homeless woman who lives on Ballona Creek, and dozens of other wonderfully interesting and diverse Angelenos.”

*Social Distancing Portrait, Los Angeles, CA*

2020

**Pascal Shirley**

Collecting Community History Initiative Digital Archives, Autry Museum; MSA.64.2.35

Photo of three children looking through the window

empty downtown los angeles during lockdown — *Deserted Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA*

2020

**David Westphal**

Collecting Community History Initiative Digital Archives, Autry Museum; MSA.64.1.208

Photos of a deserted Los Angeles

*Deserted Downtown, Los Angeles, CA*

2020

**David Westphal**

Collecting Community History Initiative Digital Archives, Autry Museum; MSA.64.1.208

Photos of a deserted Los Angeles

Photos of a deserted Honolulu — *Deserted Mall, Honolulu, HI*

2020

**J. Matt**

Collecting Community History Initiative Digital Archives, Autry Museum; MSA.64.1.208

Photos of a deserted Los Angeles

Quote by Beth Virostek “We are meant to live in community. In this time, though we are far apart physically, we perhaps are being pulled closer emotionally and spiritually in this collective experience. I am hoping that the silence and loneliness will make the reunions and the return to a new normal even sweeter.”

Quote by Christian Limón “Poor people like us can only pray so we and others do not get sick.”

Quote by Laurie Kuntz “We learn from examples. In concert with the disaster of COVID-19 will be lessons for humanity—a universal understanding of what we do best during disastrous times—to help, to tolerate, to empathize, to hope, to love, to listen, to work, to quarantine, and to change. How we do these things in mercurial and unwieldy times will define us. We are the universal examples, and the lessons will be learned.”

Quote by Stacey Oziel “A curious thing can happen when your world shrinks to the size of your house, and your one release is taking a brisk walk through your neighborhood: You start noticing things that your frazzled brain was too distracted to notice before. You look past the urban grittiness and start seeing the beauty in the wildflowers and the manicured yards. You even meet your neighbors’ eyes as they pass you on their own walks. I think we’re going to come out of this better than we came into it.”

Autry Museum of the American West

Community and Space

Land Acknowledgment

The Autry Museum in Griffith Park