Trapped: Ximena Echagüe
© Ximena Echagüe from the book Trapped published by Daylight Books
Written and Photo Edited by Joe Cuccio
The world was forever changed following the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving us all feeling uncertain on both an individual and communal level. Ximena Echagüe’s book Trapped is a series focused on humanity and the dynamics of living through this pandemic. The backdrop for these images ranges from intimate self-portraiture to street photography in New York, Europe, and Argentina. All of the photographs are in service of capturing the feelings that were felt during these tremulous times. Each city’s emptiness gives insight into just how strange these unforeseen times were for all of humanity, while the self-portraits bring to light the anxiety that had risen from society falling into disarray.
The first image following the brilliant words of curator David Company, is a self-portrait that shows the suffocating nature of the immediate lockdown and the pandemic as a whole.. The figure is wrapped in plastic and struggles to break free, while their gaze extends beyond the camera, looking upon a beautiful sunrise or sunset existing along the New York City skyline. The reflection of the outside world interacts with the subject who is confined to this plastic wrap. The figure has one hand pressing up against the beautiful skyline as if to say, “I want to be out there among the people and the world”. The outside world is revealed to us, not in a direct way, but through the reflection of the view that this imprisoned person looks upon. The photograph is an excellent tone-setter along the path of this book. It gives the viewer insight into the emotions that were felt as they navigated bare cities and the oddities that have risen out of the ashes of this worldwide pandemic.
© Ximena Echagüe from the book Trapped published by Daylight Books
As the book continues viewers experience more images of the outside world, but a tone of struggle and anxiety looms over each one. At times there is clear distress, conveyed through facial gestures or apocalyptic gear worn. The cities are so strangely barren, only revealing to us on small occasions more than a few people in the frame with significant space surrounding them. The streets seem to have been deeply disrupted by the pandemic, something we learn through the unusual images of people trying to live their lives in major metropolitan areas. New York City is largely depicted throughout the pages in a terrifying and fascinating manner that encapsulates the lack of vibrations that reigned through ‘the city that never sleeps’ during this time.
© Ximena Echagüe from the book Trapped published by Daylight Books
Objects and fragments also offer insight into what the world was experiencing during the pandemic. We see forgotten items scattered throughout the streets, symbolizing the isolation that had been felt during this major shift in how we live our lives. Specifically, I recall getting lost in an image of a small balloon floating along a brick wall. The balloon is suspended above the concrete, casting a shadow to double the size of its form and isolated from any hint of humanity. The walls to its rear show their age through their worn appearance, leading one to expect some people or a living being that inhabits this area to be around, yet nothing animate is present. The isolated object seems to represent how it felt to live each day during the pandemic. An elevated sense of loneliness washed over every one of us as we were not allowed to roam freely in the world without fear of disease and death. The photograph of the lonesome balloon complements the suffocating self-portraits and odd street images to give a holistic understanding of the emotional experience of living through the COVID-19 pandemic.
© Ximena Echagüe from the book Trapped published by Daylight Books
