Words at the window: how people are connecting with hopeful messages

With everyone stuck at home during this moment, it tracks that the windowsill has turned into a canvas, people looking out on the world while sharing something with it.

As part of a new photo project, Stephen Lovekin has photographed hopeful messages posted in the windows of his Brooklyn neighborhood of Ditmas Park, an area known for its palatial Victorian homes. The series, Words at the Window: Self Isolation and the Coronavirus, shows roughly 40 couples, families and solo residents of his neighborhood, from children to seniors, pugs and babies in diapers, posing out of the window.

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“I started the project to help neighbors find a way to still feel connected with each other in this ‘new normal’ of social distancing and self-isolation,” says Lovekin. “I also thought the use of the window, as opposed to having my subjects come outside, which complements the isolation idea.

“The thing I’ve learned about this is that people are strong, kind and good,” he adds. “I really wanted to make people feel connected.

The photos include portraits of the 91-year-old artist Shirley Fuerst, the neighbor and landlady of Lovekin. “We live in a split house and she lives by herself on one side, my family and I live on the other,” he says. “She continues to work on her art every day up in her studio on the top floor.”

In another shot, Guatemalan artist Juan Carlos Pinto poses alongside his family on the fifth floor of a building, holding up a sign that reads: “Together.” Getting the shot was no easy feat. “For some reason, the only window that would open was the one in front of the fire escape,” says Lovekin. “You can only really see their eyes through the slats.”

There’s also a pensive-looking shot of Robert E Clark Jr, who runs a community radio station called Cortelyou Road Radio, the only one of its kind in Ditmas Park. He’s holding a sign behind a screen window that reads: “Tough times never last ... but tough people do.”

The phrases are all hopeful, from “This too shall pass” to “Waiting with you” (one “off-brand” message with children says: “We are so bored”).

Ditmas Park, a largely residential neighborhood in Flatbush, Brooklyn, is lined with stately homes, many of which are divided into multiple apartments. Brooklyn is among the boroughs that has been hit the hardest by the pandemic, proving the coronavirus isn’t an equalizer. “One of the things I love about Brooklyn is that people tend to come together in times of need,” says Lovekin, a staff photographer with Shutterstock. “Even though this is so hard, I think we will come through it together.

Lovekin still abides by social distancing rules while shooting, using a zoom lens to maintain a safe distance from his subjects and wearing protective gear. “I make sure I am wearing a mask and gloves and always have some hand sanitizer, as well,” he adds.

In one memorable photo, psychotherapist Marge Blaine poses alongside Ed Blaine, a writer and playwright, while holding up a sign that reads: ‘Keep calm, wash your hands – and carry on!’

“It’s a way of connecting with others when most of our time is being spent alone at home,” says Dr Blaine. “Since we visit the UK every year, we’re familiar with the phrase and it seemed particularly apt here, with the addition of the reminder to keep washing hands.”

There’s one photo of gallerist Tom Parker and his wife Elizabeth and their children posing with the sign: “Never doubt the capacity of the human spirit.”

“In all this madness, you’re looking for things that resonate and seem important,” says Parker. “That stuck out as having real seriousness and poignancy.”

The Parker family are accompanied by their dog Gypsy, peeking out the window with them. “I love the sign about the strength of the human spirit and our dog sitting right there, with us,” he says.

“The human spirit has prevailed throughout the history of mankind; overcoming pandemics, world wars, natural disasters,” says Parker. “Ultimately, we survive. We find a way to overcome. It’s a strong instinct in all of us to find the best in a situation. There is no shortage of examples, it’s something we can all believe in.”