Covid-19 made a desert out of SoHo. Few people on the streets, anxiety in the air, a strangely eerie space. But space nonetheless. Most of the luxury stores are boarded up. Why? It’s a sign of what exactly? That the luxury brands believe that crisis is a looting opportunity. That they need to protect their precious, unnecessary things from people. The boards smelled like paint and disdain; a distrust in basic human decency, and a failure to shift one’s own values and priorities. They may be making masks and hand sanitizers to protect their image, but the boarded up stores tell another story.
Photography by Eugene Rabkin.