Madam, Nurses Run

For many years New York–based photographer Aaron Stern resisted taking pictures there—that is until the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. Over the course of 2020, he walked hundreds of miles, in no particular direction, trying to capture the haunting character of his city and the people in it throughout the crisis. Stern hunted for signs of life, glimmers of hope, resilience and optimism. The resulting 59 images in the photographic artist's book Madam, Nurses Run add up to a poetic visual statement on reckoning with hardship and loss in a post-truth world.