Fever Dreams

As the sun sets, a hurried woman in a flowing coat fades from light to shadow. At a busy downtown intersection a masked face flashes past a reflected silhouette. These are the feelings of Fever Dreams, a photographic essay, by Mark Morton that captures glimpses of life during the pandemic winter of 2021 in New York City. The photographs are abstractions sliced from the shared reality forced upon us. These dreamy, obscured images conjure up hazy memories and vivid dreams. Perhaps the people documented in these photographs lost loved ones, cared for the sick, endured illness and had their lives upended. Yet the streets of New York remained a vibrant community where people persisted. People still rushed to work, pushed past one another, played music, laughed, yelled, sang, danced, ate and drank, albeit differently — masked, and socially distanced. While this past year and a half has wreaked havoc, we take solace in the fact that this pandemic, like a fever dream, will pass.