Good Friday in the Orthodox Church during lockdown

On the 17th April 2020 it was Good Friday for the Orthodox Church in Venice. In a surreal atmosphere, only the Bishop and five other persons, including me, were allowed into the church for the via Crucis.

Good Friday in the Orthodox Church of the Greeks in Venice

Good Friday in the Orthodox Church of the Greeks in Venice

Usually a procession in the streets of Venice follows the celebration into the church, but this time, because of the lockdown, the via Crucis took place only inside the church itself.

The ceremony of Good Friday in the Orthodox Church of the Greeks in Venice

The ceremony of Good Friday in the Orthodox Church of the Greeks in Venice

Pictures taken with Leica SL, 50mm Summicron, 1/50 f/2.0, iso 3200, and with Leica CL with 18mm 2,8 Elmarit asph, iso 3200 1/15 f/2,8.

Good Friday in the Orthodox Church of the Greeks in Venice, during lockdown

Good Friday in the Orthodox Church of the Greeks in Venice, during lockdown

Luis Sepulveda

Such a privilege to have met Luis Sepulveda, to have talked to him and to have photographed him, in 2016.

Luis Sepulveda in Bassano del Grappa (Italy)

Luis Sepulveda in Bassano del Grappa (Italy)

With Luis Sepulveda I talked about the problem of big cruise ships in Venice. Nowadays, in times of Coronavirus, this problem seems to be solved by itself. But the same Coronavirus caused the death of the great Chilean writer.

Venice in times of coronavirus shutdown

Two months ago - during Carnival - Venice was "suffocating" under the pressure of tourism. Now, since the last Sunday of Carnival, Venice has been completely transformed by the coronavirus shutdown.

San Marco’s square at noon

San Marco’s square at noon

I needed a special permission togo out and take this picture. And this is one of the very few half days I spend going around Venice for magazines or televisions. San Marco’s square was like this and it reminded me the famous picture Josef Koudelka took in Prague in 1968, during the Soviet invasion. In both cases, there is nobody around at noon. Surreal.

Josef Koudelka, Prague 1968

Josef Koudelka, Prague 1968

Memory of Covid-19 in Venice

The camera is a powerful tool to create memory and awareness of events

During these days of lockdown I’m staying mostly at home to work on my archive. A lot of pictures I was not aware of are coming out from my hard disk. When you hold Photo Tours in Venice or workshops all over the world, you simply don’t have the time to go back to your work. Yet I also shoot sometimes, with a special permission.

San Marco empty during the epidemic Covid-19

San Marco empty during the epidemic Covid-19

The camera is a powerful tool to create memory and awareness of events, like in this case with coronavirus Covid-19. I don’t want to miss it. Venice is empty, quiet and still. No boats, no engines, no people. I guess never in the entire 1300 years of history of Venice you could have seen such a scene.

Picture taken with my Leica SL and 28mm Elmarit 2.8 Asph, 1/125 sec; f/11; iso 200.

Before and after

I took these pictures in Venice, in exactly the same place, but the second one was taken in the last days, during the epidemic of Coronavirus.

The first one was shot in 2013, on the 7th September, and we can clearly see the monster big cruise ship going out of Venice, and the crowds of a normal September’s day in via Garibaldi, the largest street of the district of Castello.

A monster big cruise ship in Via Garibaldi, Castello

A monster big cruise ship in Via Garibaldi, Castello

I took the second picture on the 15th March 2020, in the middle of the epidemic Covid-19.

We can clearly see from these pictures that - no matters what you think about the big cruise ships - we can say that the problem so far is solved itself.

Via Garibaldi now, in time of epidemic Covid-19

Via Garibaldi now, in time of epidemic Covid-19

As a professional photographer, publishing in the newspapers, I am one of the very few persons allowed to be outside, instead of locked at home, and rarely I wander around Venice to document this particular moment. Controls are rightly very strict.

Now I have a lot of time to spend at home, so I also went through some old pictures, taken in Venice by the Magnum photographer Inge Morath in 1955 and I found this one of children coming back from the school.

Castello, Venice. Picture taken by Magnum photographer Inge Morath in 1955

Castello, Venice. Picture taken by Magnum photographer Inge Morath in 1955

Inge’s Morath’s picture was taken, by the way, a few meters from via Garibaldi, the same street of the picture where you can see the big cruise ship. Exactly one year ago, on the 20th March 2019, I took a picture at 2.40pm in the same place of Inge Mortath’s one.

The same street on Inge Morath’s picture, on the 20th March 2019

The same street on Inge Morath’s picture, on the 20th March 2019

If you turn the corner and you wonder in the residential areas of Venice, it seems like there was the epidemic Covid-19 last years too, but it’s not such the case. The problem is that there are almost no more residents in Venice. A lot of Venetians have made tourism the monoculture of their activities and, not only in these times of epidemic, there are almost no venetians remained in the street.

Marc De Tollenaere

https://www.marcdetollenaere.com/

In the newspaper, the article about my work

“La Nuova Venezia”, 4th March 2020

La Nuova Venezia, 4th March 2020

La Nuova Venezia, 4th March 2020

The article is about my work in Venice during the epidemic Covid-19. I took this picture in the workshop of my friend Paolo, dressed like a doctor of the plague in 1630.

It’s written: Marc, the artist's snapshot of the resistant Venetians

“I portray these people who never throw in the towel. They are the pride of a city that has gone through the mill”.