As people adjust to life at home, with the spread of the Coronavirus, the photographer took it upon herself to document the lives of families around her.  She calls the project, “Families at a Distance”.

“I want [the photos] to be real and honest,” she said. “But then I also felt like there almost is a little excitement or a strange way that people are finding this happiness and embracing the fact that everybody’s finally having to be together.”

Nydia’s kids. Photo  by Andrea Cipriani Mecchi

Yet the photographs evoke a historical sense, with their black and white tone and seemingly mundane subject matter. This was not by chance, but by design. Mecchi took inspiration from works such the Farm Security Administration (FSA) style photos, of the great depression era, when the government commissioned a group of photographers to document life in rural America. Of these, Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother is perhaps the most recognizable.

Jeb, Gena and their children, Gigi and Malachy. Photo by Andrea Cipriani Mecchi

 “They brought these images back to Washington. And it’s what actually helped shape some of the support that the government then offered the people out West,” Mecchi said. “I really wanted it to feel and sort of mimic, or at least feel consistent with documentary images of the past. There’s this subtle like ‘oh, we’ve kind of been here before or maybe we’re on the verge of this again’.”

Sofia and her father, Chris  cleans the glass door of their Bella Vista home. Photo by Andrea Cipriani Mecchi

Everyone is adapting to new times. And this project marks a pivotal moment in the artist’s own life and career.

For years, Mecchi kept her photography on the sidelines, focusing most of her attention on raising two children. They have now grown up, and at the end of last year, she decided to reshift her focus back to photography. 

“I had loaded my schedule starting in February, and I had some really great projects that I was working on,” she said. “ I’ve always walked the line between doing commercial work and documentary work.”

Anna and Rodney  and their  family in the window. of their South Philly home. Photo by Andrea Cipriani Mecchi

But the recent developments in the coronavirus outbreak derailed her plans.

“I ended up losing all my work pretty much once this hit. I started getting emails and calls,” she said. “I was going out to California for a project that was cancelled. I worked for a client that has a national preschool — that was put on hold. I had all of these jobs and suddenly people are working remotely, and obviously I can’t go in and be face to face.”

This took a toll on her.

“I have to be honest, I was pretty much super depressed for a few days,” she said. 

Then one day a friend of hers, who is also an artist, challenged her to photograph people “stuck in their homes”. And so a new project was born. Mecchi’s friend and her family became the first subjects, and the initial results immediately struck her.

Stacey and Mengistu with their family in Bella Vista. Photo by Andrea Cipriani Mecchi

“They weren’t really sad or depressing or feeling like everybody’s struggling and unhappy, which we all are,” she said. “I kind of sat with it for a bit and tried to figure out why, you know, because internally my own kids are struggling with not being able to interact with their friends.”

Through her lense, Mecchi saw a sense of duality in people’s spirits.

“I feel like people are in survival mode,” she said. “But also everybody right now is embracing this. I do feel like there is a little bit of a pause and everybody is collectively holding their breaths. It sort of allows everybody — the parents, as well — to kind of just be in the moment and realize that there’s also a little bit of a gift at this time, where we really aren’t racing places”

Gigi leaps. Photo by Andrea Cipriani Mecchi

According to the artist, there’s a stark contrast in how different age groups have reacted. Adults are more anxious, while older people seem to “have a little bit more wisdom”. And the kids, while frustrated, easily switch gears to having fun — especially when someone new shows up close to their house, to photograph the family.

After shooting some more of her own friends, Mecchi moved on to people she saw while out on the street to run errands. She makes sure to keep a safe distance from everyone, often shooting them across the street with longer lenses. That’s been made possible also because of the layout of residential neighborhoods in Philadelphia, which has a great amount of row homes, as opposed to high rise buildings.

Levi,6, puts his feet up. Photo by Andrea Cipriani Mecchi

The project reached a new level after Mecchi posted about it on social media.

“It was crazy how suddenly I went from, ‘oh my god, I’m not going to work for months’ to my phone blew up after I posted a few images on Instagram like never before with people saying, ‘Oh, my God, I love this, can you come shoot my family?’”

She started accepting appointments to photograph people who reach out, welcoming donations in exchange for the family portraits.

“I need to make money, I need to figure something out to keep my family afloat right now and contribute,” she said. “But at the same time, I feel like this has kind of become bigger than that.”

Lu with her dog  on her South Philly stoop. Photo by Andrea Cipriani Mecchi

Moving forward, she wants to make sure the photos she takes are representative of a diverse group of people.

“I want the project to really represent everyone. All socio-economic [status] people and people whose families don’t look like the traditional family,” she said. “When I ask someone to let me photograph [them], I don’t ask for a donation. I definitely am wanting to document things for myself and make it a comprehensive body of work.”

Chris, Carolina and their daughter, Sofia. Photo by Andrea Cipriani Mecchi

The project has some very obvious physical limitations, seeing as Mecchi cannot walk into people’s homes, being confined to photographing them from the outside looking in. In some of the photos, kids are pressing their faces against the windows, making silly faces, in others the whole family calmly stands together in the front steps. These restrictions have presented both a challenge and an opportunity.

“To a certain extent the boundaries are actually allowing me to sort of stay focused,” Mecchi said. “I’m not searching for the right angle in the house. It really ends up becoming the spirit, in a sense, of the family.”

The post Philadelphia photographer captures family life during the coronavirus pandemic appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

The families of 9/11 victims gathered at the 9/11 Memorial Museum Wednesday to remember, mourn and give voice to the trauma they have endured. 

Karmen Garcia lost her daughter when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center.,

“She is my daughter,” she said in Spanish. “I was living in Brooklyn, and I saw the planes crash on television. My daughter was 21 years old when she was working inside the building.”

Her daughter, Marlyn Garcia, who was working at an insurance company inside the World Trade Center, was on the 100th floor when the first plane hit the North Tower. Garcia was watching television at the time of the attack and knew that she wouldn’t see her daughter again. 

“I immediately felt trauma from the attack and I still feel a lot of pain to this day,” she said. “I had to move from Brooklyn to Florida because of it and it’s hard for me to return to New York.”

Garcia and her friend were wearing shirts with a photo of Marlyn and the year she was born. They attend the memorial every year. 

Rosie Jaquez, from Corona, Queens, feels anxious every time she returns to Ground Zero. Her sister, Milly Jaquez, was a business owner and lived near the World Trade Center. Milly survived the attacks on the Twin Towers, but she became sick the last few years. In January, Milly died from liver cancer. 

“She started to begin coughing, getting sick, Jaquez said.” I don’t know exactly all the symptoms, but she was getting slim and stuff like that. It occurred for five years.” 

At first, Milly didn’t realize her cancer stemmed from 9/11.  She realized it when her friends were diagnosed with cancer at the same time as her. 

“Then you know, she realized it was 9/11,” she said. “I didn’t ask questions because when you know, you know. It’s hard asking people questions, even family. It’s sad, it’s really sad.” 

Jaquez said she has PTSD. 

“It does affect you,” she said. “You get nervous, you think about it. It’s hard to remember, and you get flashbacks. I am in my sister’s house right now, and there’s trauma there. I am on the 30th floor. I can see the building, I see everything. You will never forget.” 

Diane Massaroli left the ceremony, carrying a photo of her late husband. She was living in Staten Island and getting her kids ready for school when the attacks happened. Her sister-in-law was the first to call her that day. Her sister said, “Put the TV on, and which building does my brother work in?” 

Massaroli’s s husband, Michael Massaroli, was working on the 101st floor when the plane crashed into the North Tower. He worked at the brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald. 

“All I can remember is I had to get my son to school,” she said. “Everything felt crazy, but I knew I had to get him out of the house.”  Massaroli and her children use this memorial as a cemetery to remember Michael. 

She battles what she called a “sort of PTSD.”

“When the weather changes, I feel more upset,” she said. “Certain smells trigger my anxiety. After this day is over, I feel exhausted, but I feel a relief that I can move on with the rest of the year. When this day comes, it’s right back to that day. Like 18 years never passed.” 

The post For families of the 9/11 victims, the pain never ends appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

A week after Angel Ortiz moved from Puerto Rico to Philadelphia, Hurricane Maria hit the island, with his wife and daughter still living in their northern hometown of Carolina.

“When Hurricane Maria passed through, everything changed,” Ortiz said. “I spent three days without knowing how they were.”

Ortiz’s wife and young daughter didn’t meet him in Philadelphia until Nov. 9. They were put in emergency housing provided by FEMA — the Federal Emergency Management Agency — and started working through welfare programs.

But on Jan. 13, they got a call from the agency.

“(FEMA) said no more, and that we needed to move,” Ortiz said. “They said our house was determined to be livable in Puerto Rico, so we couldn’t stay in FEMA housing anymore.”

Although the Ortiz’s house was deemed livable by the federal agency, Ortiz said widespread looting, a lack of reliable electricity and the weakened healthcare system have kept them in the states.

“Some hospitals are still running on generators,” he said. “My daughter got the pneumonia down there and they checked on her just once a day to control the asthma.”

Since getting removed from FEMA housing, the family moved to Jersey City, where they’re staying with Ortiz’s grandmother.

And they are just one of more than 40 Puerto Rican transplants that landed in Hudson County, New Jersey as a direct result of Hurricane Maria, according to the Jersey City Board of Education.

With a wave of Puerto Rican families moving to the area, community groups like Project PIEDRA (Professionals in Education Delivering Relief Assistance) are helping them in the transition to life in the states.

The organization connects Puerto Rican families like Angel’s to each other, along with other community resources.

Project PIEDRA is the brainchild of Francisco Santiago, a teacher in Jersey City’s public school system.

“When the hurricane hit the island, I looked at my wife and said, ‘babe, we got to do something. Let’s sell the house and move down there,” Santiago said.

But the couple settled on fundraising first, and they’ve been helping displaced families transition to new lives in Jersey in the meantime.

With an education-focused model, Project PIEDRA is also helping the educational system on the island.

Santiago said the group is engaged in talks with the Puerto Rican Department of Education about what schools need their help the most.

“We’re really focused on getting boots on the ground,” Santiago said. “Teachers also got his by this tragedy; they have homes they need to return to so we want to be a respite for them, whether it’s for a day or a week.”

The organization involves teachers, administrators, counselors and social workers, and the group plans to help out schools in every aspect, said William Diaz, Vice Principle at Fort Lee High School in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

“There has been a disruption in the educational process on the island, so the goal is to go there and support in any way possible,” Diaz said.

Diaz said most of his own family also remains on the island.

“When they suffer through what they’re going through, it has a big impact on me,” he said. “I’m not an electrician or a carpenter, but I can help through education.”

The group is currently in talks with corporate vendors to secure ongoing funding. Santiago said the long-term goal for the organization is to be a volunteer relief program for any area needing educational assistance — not just Puerto Rico.

“If something happens next year in, let’s say, Haiti, we want to be there too,” Santiago said. “Wherever we’re needed, that’s where we want to be.”

And as for Ortiz, he said his family has no plans to return to the island.

“I don’t care if I’m here, or back in Philadelphia or in any part of the United States,” Ortiz said. “I just want to work hard and have a better place in life for me and my family.”

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For Ana Maria Jemenez, celebrating the Day of the Dead on November 2^nd in Corona, Queens was not all about cheer and fun. She, along with other immigrants from Mexico, Columbia, Peru, Dominican Republic and El Salvador, instead talked about their concerns regarding the upcoming midterm elections and it’s effect on the immigration reform.

The DREAM Act, which was first introduced in 2001, provided some residential rights to illegal immigrants under the age of 35, allowing them to get work authorization and educational opportunities. So far only 15 states have their versions on the DREAM Act, including New York State.

“I brought my son illegally to this country,” said Jemenez, 39. “He is now 13 and goes to school. I want him to have good education and good future.”

Jemenez, unlike her son who is living in the U.S. under the DREAM Act, is facing deportation. Her case has been with the Immigration Services department for  two years. She lives in fear that one day someone would knock on her door and deport her back to Colombia.

Living in fear and barely making ends meet while working two jobs, Jemenez refuses to stay ignorant about her rights as an undocumented worker and constantly follows any developments on immigration reforms as well as senate, house, presidential, or even local government elections. Never use illegal alien..it is considered offensive.

“Yes, I cannot vote,” said Jemenez, who only has a little trace of a Colombian accent. “But it doesn’t mean that I don’t care. I always hope that immigrants like me would get more rights, just like President Obama promised.”

Jemenez, said she understands how the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives operate and is very concerned about the outcome of the midterm elections..

“If Republicans win, we, and I mean all immigrants, are going to be deported,” said Jemenez. “Republicans don’t like Latinos. But we work hard, we love this country. The jobs we do, American would never do.”

Jemenez works at a local grocery store, doing everything from scrubbing floors to working at the cash register. The storeowner pays her $6.75 per hour. Since she doesn’t have legal papers there is nobody she can complain to. According to Jemenez, if Republicans win the senate she will lose the little that she has now.

Miriam Guzman, 42, from Mexico, works as a fulltime babysitter for $10 an hour. If she weren’t an illegal immigrant, her salary would be $15 an hour.

“Family I work for is rich,” said Guzman. “They hired me because I speak Spanish and their children love me. They pay me less because they know I have no papers and no choice, but to accept what they give me.”

Miriam Guzman and her fiancé, Greorge Pateka. Photo by Maria Panskaya

Despite the fact that the midterm election turnout is usually quite low, with turnout of eligible voters never going beyond 50% according to the Center for Voting and Democracy, undocumented immigrants from Latin America fully understand that midterm elections can be even more important than the presidential election.

“What people don’t realize is that the outcome of the midterm elections will determine the future of the country and possibly effect the presidential election outcome in 2016,” said Alan Acosta, 34, a Hispanic community activist and volunteer, Queens. “I received my green card a year ago under the DREAM Act, after a nine-year-long battle with paper work, and I’m going to vote on Tuesday. Sometimes one vote can make a difference.”

Acosta came to the U.S. illegally from Dominican Republic when he was 19, before the DREAM Act was introduced. But the act eventually made him eligible for getting social security, then work authorization and citizenship.

“This was a dream come true,” said Acosta. “I want every immigrant to experience the joy and relief I experienced a year ago.”

According to Pew Research Center, the percentage of eligible Hispanic voters is dropping by seven percent each year nationwide. One of the issues of low turnout among Latinos is underrepresentation.

“We have a black president and the majority of congress, senate and house officials are white,” said Jemenez. “I want to see more Hispanic representatives. I feel like Latino population doesn’t vote that much is because there is nobody we can vote for.”

According to Migration Policy Institute, undocumented immigrants from Latin America represent 46% of all foreign born immigrants, who currently reside in the U.S., with 28% of them being Mexicans. Indians and Chinese, along with other Asian countries, represent 29% combined together. The other 25% are immigrants from Europe and Africa.

All immigrants who cross the border with the U.S. on illegal terms, whether smuggled on a ship or train or traveled with fake passports, have one dream in common—becoming the U.S. citizens. While the Obama administration has expressed strong support for numerous immigration reforms, like the DREAM Act, the majority of those propositions were voted down in the Senate.

In May 2014 New York State tried to expend the DREAM Act policy by enacting free college education to immigrants, but the initiative hadn’t been passed.

“It’s already hard enough for the president and his aids to pass any bill and to get it approved,” said Acosta. “And it’s going to be even worse if Republicans win the Senate. The next two years are going to be hell not only for the president, but also for all immigrants.”

The post Midterm elections bring fear to the undocumented appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

As the nation mourned the 13th anniversary of September 11, a 9/11 widow still struggles to explain the loss to her three children.

“It has become a great event in the family and our lives definitely revolve around it but it is a difficult subject to talk about,” said Lori Crotty, 53, of Summit, N.J. “At first, it was really hard for them to understand because they were so young.”

Crotty lost her husband, Kevin Crotty, who worked on the 104th of the 2 World Trade Center on 9/11. She was left to raise three young children at that time, Megan, 7, Kyle, 5 and Sean, 2.

She encouraged them to be open about their feelings and tried to answer their questions but knows it may never be enough.

“I hope I taught them about good and bad,” she said. “Not in the sense of, who’s the bad person and who’s the good person, but to be able to understand in the higher level of the worldly perspective.”

Her youngest son, Sean, now 15, was with her yesterday to visit the newly opened 9/11 Museum, but he cannot talk about his father or the attack.

Other parents who visited Ground Zero yesterday had to face difficult conversations about the attack.

Robby Badruddin, 42, of Bandung, Indonesia, sat next to his son, Zoya, 12, and explained the memorial site. This is their first visit to the United States.

“I think we need to know where it is and what is left from the World Trade Center,” he said. “Although I never really told Zoya anything about it, but it is still a part of the world history that will be remembered forever.”

Zoya has heard briefly about 9/11 attacks from his friends and teachers. Coming from a Muslim majority country, the issue is less discussed with the same discourse as it has been in the States. Regardless, Zoya said, “I feel sorry for everyone who died. People should not die like this.”

Robby Badruddin, 42, and his son, Zoya, 12, from Indonesia, visited the 9/11 Memorial in their first trip to the U.S. Photo by Virginia Gunawan,

Badruddin did not think that it was his obligation to talk to Zoya about the attacks, he said he could get the information from other sources.

“Besides, I want him to be able to find the truth,” he said. “If he always come to me for the answer, I might only give him my truth.”

A more formal educational program has been prepared by the 9/11 Tribute Center called Teaching 9/11. They have a toolkit with a lesson plans and personal stories of people who were affected by the event to be used by any school in the world. The toolkit is available on their website.

Director of Education and Exhibits at The Tribute WTC, Wendy Aibel-Weiss highlighted the problem.

“At that time, most students have not been born yet or they were too young to remember and parents have avoided the topic,” she said.

“The toolkit could provide educators a comprehensive way of introducing the sensitive subject,” she said.

A grandmother herself, the Park Slope, Brooklyn resident wanted to teach the younger generations about “great heroism when a city, a nation, and the world came together and recovered from it.”

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