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Tekst
Tomasz Lazar was born in 1985 in Szczecin, Poland. An independent photographer, he is a graduate of the West Pomeranian University of Technology’s Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology. He has won major photography contests in Poland and abroad (including the World Press Photo, POY, CHIPP, the Sony World Photography Award, the International Photography Award, BZWBK Press Photo, Grand Press Photo and the Lumix Festival for Young Journalism). His work has been published in newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times, Newsweek International, The Sunday Times Magazine, The New Yorker and The Los Angeles Times. A coffee-lover and a good-music enthusiast, he derives pleasure from spending time with other people and devotes most of his time to photography. Recently, he’s been constantly on the move. www.tomaszlazar.pl
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Podpis obrazka
X-ray of a person diagnosed with COVID-19, 1st May 2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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Question
Michał Dąbrowski (MD): Where did the pandemic find you?
Odpowiedź
Tomasz Lazar (TL): I got back from Nepal at the end of February. After that, I decided I wanted to do a project there. I had a flight booked for the second half of March – I was planning on a two-week trip. But on the day of the flight out, 13th March, Nepal closed its borders. I remember that the situation was developing very quickly – a friend there was sending me information as the restrictions were going up. I had to postpone the project.
When it comes to things here, I’m a lecturer at the Art Academy of Szczecin. All the lectures went online. Everything hands-on was postponed. At the school, we managed to discuss photos, limiting ourselves to what we could do online. As for my commercial projects, everything stopped. In late February, no one was expecting that COVID-19 would lead to a pandemic – that it would be so widespread.
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Ozonation of the underground passage in the city centre, 8th April 2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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MD: Do you remember your feelings back then?
Odpowiedź
TL: I wasn’t afraid. It was still possible to meet, to think about various topics. The world was slowing down. In the meantime, I had the idea for a coronavirus project here in Poland. The pandemic is a moment in history – I think it will change us and change how we perceive life to be. We’ll be seeing the effects of it for a long time to come.
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View of the deserted Deloitte office building in the city center. Pursuant to the ordinance of the Minister of Health, from 16th March, all companies had to shift to remote 'home office' work. 21st April, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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Sunday Mass in the almost empty Temple of Divine Providence in Wilanów. Pursuant to the ordinance of the Minister of Health, the maximum number of people attending Mass, not including those leading the service, was five. 29th March, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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A couple on a walk in the Moat Park by the slopes of the Citadel. They stand next to holes full of seemingly dead trees with a mosaic inside. The tree is reborn every year. At that time, in accordance with the regulation of the Minister of Health, in connection with COVID-19, people could only visit parks alone, in pairs or as a family of several people. 28.03.2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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MD: What’s going to change?
Odpowiedź
TL: I think things will change the most for older people. While doing this project and talking with different people, I noticed how afraid older people are. Some of these people were looking ahead and saying that even if the pandemic were to end, their fear would stay. This is the group which will be affected the most by the pandemic. We will definitely feel the virus’s impact on the economy too. I think it’ll look like a domino effect – one company’s collapse will lead to another’s. We’re already seeing this in the United States – I’m thinking about the sudden increase in the number of unemployed people.
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A deserted playground in Warsaw's Żoliborz district. All playgrounds were closed. In addition, some were sealed and secured with black foil so as to be impossible to use. 28th March 2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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MD: Many people are working from home now. Do you think changes like these will persist?
Odpowiedź
TL: It depends on how the virus develops – will it die out, or will there be a second wave in the fall? The virus will definitely change our approach to work – teaching in schools has already changed. That’s definitely a much more difficult task than teaching at a university. When it comes to work, I know that people are slowly going back to their offices, but what will happen now? Will the number of cases increase? We’ll see over the next few months. It will be an interesting time – a time of real change. For now, we have more questions than answers.
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After delivering the shopping, a daughter says goodbye to her parents, who don't leave the house. For safety reasons, she does it through the window. Older people are at high risk for the disease. 28th March 2020, Latchorzew, near Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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Testing soldiers from the Border Protection Army for COVID-19, Ministry of Interior and Administration hospital, 30th April 2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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MD: Let’s talk about your photos. You called your cycle ‘Void Diary’, as in ‘Notes from the Void’. Did you mean the void in the streets?
Odpowiedź
TL: If we take a look at what was happening and what is happening, the first thing associated with COVID-19, for me, was a void. The increasing restrictions meant fewer and fewer people were out in the streets, and public places were emptied out of people: shopping centres, cinemas, theatres and museums.
I think there was also a void inside of people, because the rushing world, this machine focussed on material development, came to a stop. We pulled all the brakes. This was clear in the flight industry, for example. As a result, everyone started to listen for what was going to come out of this void. They say the most difficult part of the human development process is the ability to listen to the silence between sounds. COVID-19 has caused that very silence.
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View of the food court at the Arkadia shopping centre the day before the reopening. After the introduction of the next stage of unfreezing the economy, shopping centres were opened and food courts could only offer take-out, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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MD: Has this been a time of reflexion for you?
Odpowiedź
TL: Yes. A lot of questions have popped into my head, but the most basic one was: why is all of this happening? I thought about nature, the environment and how the development of technology has destroyed the planet. My mind was filled with various strands of thinking, and I finally had the time to check out some books.
When you’re looking at just a fragment of the world, it’s hard to find answers to those universal questions. You have to seek out the bigger picture.
Question
MD: Do you think our lifestyle has contributed to this situation?
Odpowiedź
TL: That’s how it is in our world – there’s a cause, so there has to be a result. Things happen for a reason. There’s energy circulating – yin and yang.
Certainly, globalisation means that the coronavirus isn’t just a local issue, but one that has spread throughout the world.
Podpis obrazka
View of the empty Iluzjon Cinema. Pursuant to the ordinance of the Minister of Health of 14th March, all facilities such as cinemas, museums, libraries, theatres, etc. were closed until further notice. 27th March 2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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MD: Tell me about the photos. You photographed the fight against the virus in hospitals – how did this happen?
Odpowiedź
TL: All the ‘hospital’ photos were taken in one place – in the Ministry of Interior and Administration in Warsaw. This was possible thanks to the agreement, help and kindness of the many people who allowed me to observe their work. I’d particularly like to thank Paula Dobosz, Dr Artur Zaczyński, Dr Marek Posobkiewicz and Dr Agnieszka Szarowska. It was very difficult, because photographers are very limited by the GDPR regulations right now. We can’t show patients’ faces, and the doctors also have to consent to an image being published.
I wanted to show the hospital as a part of everyday life, not as ‘the news’ or typical reportage. I was interested in how basic things are changing – relationships, community. The way doctors are struggling with COVID-19 during this pandemic is something very basic, but few people get to see it.
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Dr Igor Pankowski, director of the Emergency Room at the Ministry of Interior and Administration hospital, preparing for magnetic resonance imaging of a patient with aortic dissection. The patient was in quarantine before arrival. 30th April 2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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A nurse bringing food to COVID-19 patients, Ministry of Interior and Administration hospital, 2nd May 2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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Dr Agnieszka Szarowska taking care of a COVID-19 patient from the Social Care Centre during a ward round, 2nd May 2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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A patient with confirmed COVID-19 being transported to the Emergency Department and waiting for admission to the Ministry of Interior and Administration hospital, 23rd May 2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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Question
MD: What was it like to take photos while wearing protective clothing?
Odpowiedź
TL: Before I would go into the infectious-disease ward, I had to get properly suited up – I had to put on a suit, a mask and double gloves. After three hours of that in the emergency ward, my glasses were completely steamed up. These have been doctors’ everyday conditions. I spent five days in hospital.
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The body of a man admitted to the Emergency Room in the morning at the Ministry of Interior and Administration hospital with aortic dissection. He died during transport to the operating room. He was in quarantine at home before arriving at the hospital. 30th April 2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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Question
MD: What else did you photograph?
Odpowiedź
TL: I mainly took photos in Warsaw. I took pictures of a cinema and a shopping centre, and I photographed the city being ozoned. There, in the capital, I looked at people’s relationships, and I photographed a priest travelling by car with a monstrance.
Recently, in Malbork, I photographed a multi-champion swimmer – Paulina Cierpałowska. Her parents built a heated pool in the garden so she can do her daily workouts.
Podpis obrazka
Paulina Cierpiałowska (15 years old), multiple Polish champion in swimming, during training in a pool constructed by her parents in their garden. As a result of COVID-19, the Olympic Games in Tokyo have been postponed, which means Paulina still has a chance to qualify. 19th May 2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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MD: I like the fact that after a journey like this, you only picked one photo for the final selection – your material is really saturated with content this way.
Odpowiedź
TL: Editing is very important. Less is often more.
When you’re working on such complex material, you need to spend a lot of time on research. I treated the series not like a reportage, but more like a documentary or an essay. It’s a set of many elements which make up a picture of the pandemic.
Question
MD: Who is the central figure of these photos?
Odpowiedź
TL: The central figure is the collective. It’s a story about people and how our relationships change. This material would be a lot more modest if it weren’t for the help of many people. This is one positive aspect of the virus – people have started helping one another out.
Podpis obrazka
Jola, who worked as a flight attendant for 30 years, collects food from people as part of the Senior Aid campaign. This action was organized by the Warsaw Group and helps the increasing number of elderly people staying at home for fear of being infected with COVID-19. 10th April 2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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Father Lech Dorobczyński, a priest of the Franciscan Reformers parish in Warsaw, walks around an estate with a monstrance, blessing parishioners who are not leaving their homes. 19th April 2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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Ania visits her mother twice a week, bringing her shopping. They always talk to each other for a few minutes, from a distance of about 5 metres. 6th April 2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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Question
MD: You decided on a clear formal procedure – overexposing the photos. Why?
Odpowiedź
TL: To me, form and content are two equal elements which have to interact with one another. I was looking for a solution of how to describe the pandemic in the right way. My first thought was: we’re fighting an enemy we can’t see. Showing this through the sterility of a laboratory, a ‘brightening up’ of the space, leads to the fact that when you’re looking at a photo, you start looking for the details in all of the elements that make up that photo – even in the shadows.
I also wanted the hue of these photos to evoke the image of a lung X-ray. In one photo which is part of this set, this grey-and-white fibrosis is the effect of COVID-19. I learned from the doctors that the lungs of someone hard-hit by the coronavirus look like they belong to a 70-year-old smoker.
Question
MD: Have things gotten back to normal for you?
Odpowiedź
TL: I’m trying. I run a reportage and documentary studio at the university – we’re still having our classes online. We don’t know yet what’s happening for next semester. More commercial projects are slowly coming in. I also want to keep going with the COVID-19 project – my goal is to create a book and an exhibition.
Podpis obrazka
A 'COVID party' – Magda and her husband Albert visit her friends Marzena and Artur in the neighbourhood. They keep their distance and comply with all ordinances of the Minister of Health. 18th April 2020, Warsaw, photo: Tomasz Lazar
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Tekst
Interview conducted in Polish by Michał Dąbrowski, translated by Lauren Dubowski, Jul 2020
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