OUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE BOROUGH OF KINGS
COURIER LIFE, MAY 29 -JUNE 4, 2020 31
BY CATE CORCORAN
The photographs of people on the
street Francesca Magnani takes every
day document how New Yorkers have
been coping with the virus. Originally
from Padua, Italy, the writer and photographer
has been living in Brooklyn
for more than 15 years, and her work
has been featured in a solo show at
Photoville and many publications, including
Brooklyn Paper’s sister pubication
Brownstoner.
Masks appear in early March, scenes
shift to the outdoors, and the streets of
the city gradually empty of people, photos
and videos Magnani posts daily on
Instagram at @magnanina..
Around the time Gov. Andrew
Cuomo mandated the shutdown in
New York, Magnani started a photo series
called “On the Stoop” that refl ects
how people in Cobble Hill and Prospect
Heights have been using their stoops
during the shutdown. “Stoops have become
an extension of the indoor living
space,” Magnani told Brownstoner.
“The stoops allow for socializing — at
a 6-foot distance — and some kind of
community building.”
What made you decide to pursue
this particular project?
I think and fi gure out the world
around me and also my feelings
through walking at a given hour and
the people and colors and light I encounter.
I started the project the minute
I exchanged a look and slight nod
on his part with a man who was sitting
outside. That afternoon Cuomo had
announced that the pause would start
in two days, and because I was photographing
the anxiety building up in
New Yorkers and myself for weeks, I
had just decided to limit my time on the
subway, and explore the neighborhood
more. On March 20th I realized people
were sitting out not only because the
day was nice, but also because it was
now offi cially advisable not to leave
one’s home. Being Italian, I had already
heard various more advanced phases of
the pandemic restrictions, and during
those weeks I was wondering which of
the limitations Italians were subjected
to would be applied in New York.
So this series, like all my stories,
originated during my walks and not
from an intellectual concept. There
are many photo essays nowadays that
explore empty streets, hospital tragic
scenes or home intimacy images. I am
committed to sharing what appears
in front of my lens and highlighting
aspects of the pandemic that have not
been told yet. And as a street photographer,
I like it that the hidden comes out
to my view.
What is your process? Do you
talk to the people you photograph?
For this particular project, as I
have to stop my walk and take a stance
in front of someone, I do exchange a
few words and ask permission to photograph.
Usually people do not mind
being portrayed there and are amused
by the request. My strong Italian accent
is also a conversation starter.c
Also, I like to give people the image
I take, and I often write down their
email or instagram account. If someone
does not want to be photographed
I have learned not to take it personally,
and in New York, the moment
you avert your gaze, chances are you
run into a scene even more appealing.
However, I am always grateful when
someone allows me to photograph
them on the street because the image
then goes to refl ect something that was
not yet expressed in myself. I spent several
years printing in a darkroom — at
the New School when there used to be
one, at ICP, and at The Print Space —
from 1999 to 2007 and I have retained
that sense of looking back at the images,
in retrospect as it happens in the
darkness on photographic paper. Even
if I now shoot digital, I maintain that
sense of discovery, surprise and reve-
Taking
steps
Italian photographer
captures Brooklyn’s
current stoop stories
STREET THEATER: ‘Friends share a snack and a botttle of wine while keeping distance, Brooklyn, May 2, 2020.’ Francesca Magnani.