#ICPConcerned: Global Images for Global Crisis

New York’s International Center of Photography delivers an evocative “living chronicle” of the 2020 pandemic in this sensational assemblage. Culled from more than 60,000 images that were submitted for the museum’s #ICPConcerned project—which began in March 2020 as a global open call for photos of others’ experience of the pandemic—this collection hauntingly captures the world-altering events that unfolded around the Covid-19 crisis. What’s striking is the book’s freewheeling nature; as Campany, ICP’s managing director of programs, writes, “Every genre and mode of photography is here.... These are strange times, with no guarantees as to what kind of image is effective, or for whom.” Images of deserted streets and masked, weary-eyed pedestrians are juxtaposed with instances of quiet beauty, such as a woman bonding with her dog and frontline workers tending to patients. Special focus is also given to other headlines of 2020, including, most notably, the Black Lives Matter protests (“I watched through my lens as people of all different backgrounds and colors came together,” one photographer recalls). The result is an affecting reminder that humanity can be found in the unlikeliest of places. This stunning work deserves celebration. (Oct.)