CULTURA INQUIETA | article
Photographer Emilia Brandão Captures Healthcare Professionals in the Battle Against Covid-19
By Juan Yuste
October 9, 2020
Brazilian photographer and Leica ambassador, Emilia Brandão, presents her project TIME TO HEAL: Portraits of Healthcare Professionals in the Battle Against Covid-19 at Leica Gallery Madrid.
The exhibition is part of the cultural proposals of Leica Gallery Madrid and serves as a tribute to healthcare workers who will be recognized on October 16 in Oviedo with the Princess of Asturias Award for Concord 2020.
Emilia Brandão began her photography journey in 2000 with an old camera belonging to her father. She set up a photography lab and has not stopped photographing since.
Her passion lies in capturing people, portraits, and the individual light that is imprinted in a photograph.
Her career in film, specializing in cinematography, fueled her passion for still photography, and since 2008, she has been dedicated to photography professionally.
In mid-March 2020, Madrid, her city of adoption, was experiencing the most challenging weeks of the COVID-19 crisis. After weeks of confinement with her family, she decided to support those who were suffering the most from the crisis by portraying healthcare professionals, creating this project: **TIME TO HEAL**.
Three hospitals in Madrid dedicated exclusively to COVID-19—Hospital Universitario Puerta del Hierro, Hospital Gregorio Marañón, and Hospital Universitario del Sureste—generously opened their doors to her. There, she set up a photography studio and had the honor of photographing 150 healthcare professionals from all departments of the hospitals.
Photographer Emilia Brandão explains that the main objectives of this project have been to honor the professionals fighting in this battle and to provide them with a safe space to rest and breathe, even if just for a few minutes, as they knew they were on the brink of collapse:
“The intimacy and trust that developed between us were very special, and they began sharing their stories with me—things they had often not told their partners or even themselves. They found themselves emotionally and physically exhausted, not only from the work but from everything that comes with facing a pandemic. We, and the media, called them ‘heroes,’ yet while I photographed and spoke with them, I came to understand that this word, which can imply having superpowers, was causing them enormous stress. Because they are human, and no matter how extraordinary the work they were doing, it was clear that they also needed to heal to move forward.”
TIME TO HEAL, by Emilia Brandão
Leica Gallery Madrid
Until November 12, 2020