Outer Space: Chicago

I didn’t think I would forget the early Covid days, but looking back, things have really blurred. I went out to shoot this on March 24th, 2020. Chicago had asked folks to stay home. And with the cold weather, people obliged. The emptiness was surreal.

But the next day was beautiful, and after a few days of staying inside, it felt like everyone in the city was outside. Cop cars drove down the lakefront path, shouting over megaphones for people to go home. The lakefront was officially closed.

Years later, I switched these days in my head. I forgot that the city had gone from empty, to full, and back again. And it would be months before residents re-emerged and took back their outdoor spaces. It’s hard to imagined the locations filmed here ever being this empty again.