Waiting Room

During the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, I photographed in doctors’ waiting rooms whenever I needed to visit a doctor or accompany a friend. Everybody was masked and a low level of anxiety pervaded the space. I saw the possibility for making meaningful topical photographs. At first I did not want to show these pictures publicly, sharing them only with friends, thinking them an invasion of my subjects’ privacy. Later though I came to understand that because a waiting room is a publicly accessible space where there can be no expectation of privacy, photography is permitted unless explicitly prohibited. As the work progressed I realized an option that would conceal my subjects’ identities and assuage my concern. Since a COVID mask only partially hides a person’s face, I could further disguise my subjects by pixelating their faces and touching out nametags, jewelry and tattoos. My original intention in obscuring peoples’ identities was to protect them and myself from issues about exploitation. However in doing so, I came to see these anonymized people as embodiments of everyone’s vulnerabilities and fears about health and health care. The period of the pandemic, of course, has been a prime occasion for feeling afraid and vulnerable.