CADENA SER | interview
Sadness, Pain, Despair, Exhaustion, and Helplessness: What the Photos Captured During the Pandemic Conveyed About 150 Healthcare Professionals in Madrid
A colorless gallery filled with emotion, recognizing those who continue to heal and care for us.
María Manjavacas
Cadena SER 03/11/2020 – 16:48
Madrid
Conducted during March and April 2020, **Time to Heal**, as the exhibition is called, is a tribute to the healthcare professionals facing an invisible enemy on the front lines. It is a personal project by Brazilian photographer Emilia Brandão, who is based in Madrid. “In mid-March in Madrid, my adopted city, my life, like that of the rest of humanity, changed radically due to Covid. While I was confined at home with my family, I felt an urgency to help and portray the heroes fighting on the front lines. I believe a portrait has the power of applause, and I felt they needed this recognition. I wanted to put faces and names to them, to create memories for some of the people who have been closely involved in the fight against the virus,” explains the photographer.
“The Worst I’ve Ever Experienced”
Inés García Calvo, an emergency nurse at Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid, says this and repeats it. “When I started studying, AIDS was just beginning, and we were all involved in the research; no one knew what it was until it was identified, and I have never been so scared in my life. And more than fear, it was desperation,” recounts Inés, recalling one of her worst moments in the emergency waiting room on a day when they received 300 patients when the capacity was only 60. “They were sitting in chairs, and we couldn’t take them anywhere. They looked at you with such desperation,” Inés says.
Another colleague, Esther Monje, a nursing assistant, remembers the worst moment of her career when she saw a patient die in her arms because the family couldn’t be with him due to Covid protocols.
Elisa Castreño is the head housekeeper at Gregorio Marañón, coordinating cleaning services. She worked in Iraq when the war broke out and recalls that experience as much worse. “In war, you can have some bad hours, but then there are moments when you can hold on to something, embrace someone. With Covid, you can’t. You try to keep your distance for fear of contagion. This bug has left us without human warmth, which I miss so much.”
Time to Heal
To take the photos for the exhibition, a photography studio was set up for several days inside each of the three Madrid hospitals: Puerta del Hierro in Majadahonda, Gregorio Marañón, and Southeast University Hospital. “While they worked days and hours without rest, without time or energy to process everything that was happening to them internally, I offered them a pause, a chair under my light to get to know them and listen to how they felt. By inviting them to a moment of tranquility, many connected with their emotions for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. Far from the heroic image they carried, I was able to see closely the vulnerable nature of these human beings who heal and care for others,” explains Emilia Brandão. The photographer shares that the goal of this project is to portray the hospital teams who are fighting and sacrificing their lives to save and heal thousands of people affected by Covid. The exhibition can be visited at the Leica Gallery in Madrid until November 12.