In April 2020, at the height of the onset of the pandemic in New York City, photographer Renate Aller began inviting one friend at a time to join her on the sidewalk in front of her building in Soho, where she set up a camera to chronicle the coming together.

In April 2020, at the height of the onset of the pandemic in New York City, photographer Renate Aller began inviting one friend at a time to join her on the sidewalk in front of her building in Soho, where she set up a camera to chronicle the coming together. It was the first time in weeks that many of them had encountered others in the outside world. Aller and her friends never touched, but together, they created an emotional landscape of those early months of uncertainty. The photos on display in side walk 6' apart in New York City capture a time when fear and anxiety conflicted with the overwhelming urge to connect.

Born in Germany, Renate Aller lives and works in New York. Her work is in the collections of corporate institutions, private collectors, and museums, including the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Yale University Art Gallery, CT; and Musée des beaux-arts Le Locle, Switzerland, among others.

A set of prints from the side walk project have been added to the permanent collection as part of New-York Historical’s efforts to document the effects of COVID-19 on New Yorkers as well as artistic responses to the pandemic.

The exhibition is curated by Marilyn Satin Kushner, curator of prints, photographs, and architectural collections at New-York Historical.

Support is generously provided in honor of Jerry Oppenheimer; by Mihail Lari and Scott Murray; and by Michele and Steve Pesner and Peace.