Covid et orbi: brilliant illustrated book about the first year of the pandemic. – Politics

Nobody is now clapping for overworked hospital staff. Nobody sings on balconies anymore, nobody applauds. The coffins are not in short supply at the moment. The force of the images from the first pandemic year 2020 seems to have almost been forgotten – all the better to visualize them again in the fourth wave. “Pandemic – Chronicle of World Events” brings together 500 large-format images from 150 countries, compiled by photographers from the French press agency Agence France Presse (AFP).

Starting in Wuhan, the photos document the rapid spread of the Covid pandemic around the globe. The focus is on the suffering, fear, helplessness, but also the hope and improvisational talents of the “normal” population. Politicians and other dignitaries appear only marginally. On the other hand, death plays a major role; Coffins, mass graves, and burns are shown; There is nothing voyeuristic about it, as editor Marielle Eudes writes, that it is “obviously necessary to show death, the only possible face of this invisible and deadly virus”. The voluminous volume ends with the first vaccinations, with the (supposed) return of normality at various mass events and happy parties in spring 2021.

Empty squares and empty streets contrast with the emotions of nurses, doctors, the sick and the healthy. And a lot of disinfectant is sprayed. Germany is beneficially only mentioned marginally, but regrettably the debates about freedom rights, “lateral thinkers” and opponents of vaccinations are as good as ignored.

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Despite this serious weakness, the band remains an important document of a time that may well be remembered 100 years from now. If things continue as they are in Europe, a second volume should be necessary in the foreseeable future.

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