90/100
Akuac
Portrait by
Anastasia Orlando
London
This is Akuac. I met her at Black Lives Matter protest at the U.S Embassy in London and asked to take her picture, so she took off her mask and stood for me. We've been friends since and I hope we will be for many years to come. Her strength and spirit is beautiful and unique. For me, the image reminds us that all of ours are. Every single one. George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. The countless others that we know of and that we don't. I hope that the new normal after COVID-19 is kindness, equality, compassion, love. I hope the new normal is really seeing what's important-looking after each other and the planet. If this pandemic has taught us anything it must be that all we need really is the wellbeing of our loved ones. It wasn't shopping centres, or flights around the world or buildings that we were used to socialising in that we really missed in lockdown - it was humans. Our human connection is the most important thing we have. I hope that we can keep this feeling going far beyond 2020.