The face of Shanghai during the Coronavirus

The coronavirus emergency in China has now made several cities deserted, with residents isolated at home to avoid the risk of infection. The first was Wuhan, the epicentre of the epidemic, but this was followed by Beijing, Shanghai, Macau.

Raul Ariano is an Italian photographer who focuses mainly on photographic projects in China and Asia. With this photographic reportage he has documented the life of the last few weeks in Shanghai, the second most populous city in China with its 24 million inhabitants, where he has lived for several years.

While the Asian stock exchanges sunk under the worries of the spread of the virus, Raul talks about how life has changed in daily gestures and habits: from temperature controls to the entrance of supermarkets, the subway and restaurants. It has now become mandatory to wear the mask to breathe in closed places, unwritten rule to wear it even on the street.

The photographer describes the work more like a diaty than reportage, the purpose of the photos is to represent the tiredness and anxiety on people's faces, and hence also the choice to work mainly through portraits in the foreground, but on the other hand there is also the desire to talk with these shots of the determination of the Chinese people to collaborate and overcome this crisis.